The Kettle and Cask Blog

After the Move

2011-12-06T12:03:00.001-05:00

Now that the move is complete, I have to plan where to plant the hops and what to brew during my holiday vacation, while still unpacking, raking and fixing!

I'll write more soon.

Kettle and Cask is Off for a Bit

2011-08-12T12:32:00.000-04:00

My wife and I are in the process of buying a house and I'm attending Johnson and Wales University's Culinary Arts' "Garnish Your Degree" program in September, so while we pack our stuff and the brewing equipment and ingredients to move, see houses, make offers, keep the business rolling, buy books, chef coats and knives and other assorted and associated tasks, the Kettle and Cask has gone on a hiatus until the move is completed. This doesn't mean that I haven't been thinking of and formulating recipes in my head to brew when the next brewhouse is operational, nor does it mean that I've stop drinking stock from the cellar.

All of the stock that isn't consumed has to be packed, except for a few bottles of Tripel and Fresh Hopped Ale which I'm keeping out or consumption. I've packed all of the other full bottles of stock (except as noted) and all of the empties into my new CW Crates.

24x12 Crates stacked

Motto for this part of the move: If you're not filled with beer and you don't fit into a CW Crate boxes... out to the recycling you go!

I purchased these crates, made out of polypropylene corrugated plastic, because of their strength, rigidity, durability and ability to absorb some impact. Each box has hinged lids, like beer cases used to have back in the day and the handy hand holes on the sides. These will not tear like corrugated cardboard will, even when completely wet – perfect for New England damp basements! They have dividers to keep each bottle from bumping into it's neighbor. You can write on theses with a grease pencil or with a permanent marker and they're made in the U.S.A. T shaped corrugated pieces can be ordered separately so one can wash bottles, insert the T in the neck of the bottle and them store them upside down in the case to drip dry.

They arrived flat and I had to fold and assemble each one. The folds are scored and they assemble with posts and screws. They can even be unassembled to lay flat again for storage. I plan to keep them assembled to protect the bottles when not in use.

12 x 22 Crates

I purchased eight boxes that hold twenty-four 12 oz. bottles each and four boxes holding twelve 22 ounce bottles each. This is a lot of beer bottles.

These cases can be stacked no more than four high.

Of course I have the full stock on the bottom and the empties on top so if they do tip over there will be no crying over spilt beer. If the movers don't break any bottles, they can have a cold Tripel after the move is completed!

I am interested to find out from CW crate whether they plan to make other sizes such as .5 or 1 liter swing top beer bottles or .375 and .750 mL wine bottles.

Things are Really Hoppening Around Here

2011-07-20T15:45:00.000-04:00

There's a lot to tell you about in this update. Not so much with the hops per se... they're plugging along. Watering is proceeding since we're in a hot dry time right now. The cones are growing larger and fatter. The bine for the Cascade has grown to the top. On the other hand, the Hallertau has stopped short of the top, but it is nice and bushy.

Cascade hops 7/20/2011

The big news is that the Hopfengarten will have to move. In June we were informed by the owner of the house to vacate the premises by the end of August. We were flabbergasted. But when we thought about it, we really engaged in thinking about buying a home of our own to avoid this kind of situation again. We looked at several houses in our price range and a few above our range. Now we are in the process of making an offer on a house on the other side of town. We do not anticipate actually moving until September, due to the nature of the short sale.

Hallertau, 7/20/2011

Not that the hopfengarten was a major criteria for the purchase of a property, but having the space for a garden with a full day of sunshine to grow vegetables was. The area behind the garage is ready to have a new-and-improved trellis (or two) installed and the hop rhizomes transplanted this fall for spring growth.

Other parts of the property need some clean up. In the back of the house a tree is growing too closely to the deck and a shrub grew to tree size, sprawling into the yard. Removing this bush/tree will open up the yard up. The major advantage to this property is that the lawn will only need a regular push lawn mower to maintain it, not a riding mower. Maintenance will be easier than 18 Benedict.

Behind the house is a detached garage, which is in great shape. It has electricity, water and is rustically finished inside. The first two need to be researched further to see how viable they are. My wife Jen used the term "brewhouse" to sell me the idea of this house. Her scheme worked – yet, there are other important reasons why this house makes sense for us: great neighborhood, solid foundation, newer roof, newer mechanicals, updated electric, attractive price and convenience to Jen's business. "The Brewhouse" happens to be one of the seven reasons. There are a few problems that can be fixed over time. So not to jinx the process, images of the house and property will come forward when the closing is imminent.

I've loved living where we were on Benedict Rd. for the past four years, tending to the hopfen and pflanzegarten, but I'm so happy to be getting our own house where we can plant and tend as we please. An Oktoberfest party may be in order if we're in by October near the festival dates.

The First Hop Report for 2011

2011-06-22T15:42:00.000-04:00

Hop growth up to June 7.

The hops are growing stronger each day this season. In mid May we went from a sunny hot week where I had to water every day. Then we went into a rainy week with little sunshine and 50° days. Now well into June we’re repeating the same weather pattern along with a F3 tornado which died about 20 miles southeast of us. With all of the water and sun the hops seem to be ahead of last year by a week and a half. The Hallertau hops, which are the first to sprout, are already almost at the top. In the past I was trimming off the smaller, weaker bines that came out of the ground to give the stronger ones the best chance to grow. This year the amount of bines that sprouted doubled, so I gave more of the shoots the chance to climb. Each line has four or five bines climbing rather than the two or three of last year.

With the publishing of last year’s article in the gadget issue of Zymurgy Magazine and the hop collaboration with A.C. Golden Brewery/Colorado Native Brewery in Colorado, I’ve had more inquires about the trellis than ever. Here is Colorado Native's webpage with my part in the project 3/4 of the way down the page. To answer all of the inquiries, I thought I’d lay out the repairs and improvements I’ve made to the trellis, remembering the motto of my trellis design:

The trellis and it's crop must be built, erected, maintained, planted and harvested by the hands of only one person.

New carriage with stain finish.

The carriage moved up and down the trellis pole well, but it briefly got stuck on the pole during the second hop harvest last fall when one side still had the Cascade hops hanging on it and the other side didn’t have any becasue the Hallertau hops had been harvested earlier. The weight of the hops on the one side caused the carriage to torque against the pole without the equal balance of hops on the other side. With that in mind, I replaced the original carriage, which dried out and cracked. It was made of rough cut cedar, which provided a great look, became brittle as the season passed and the places where the screw’s pilot holes cracked. I made end-grain-to-face joints at 90° held together by galvanized sheet rock type screws. I replaced the cedar with pine, a firmer, almost as light lumber, yet still easily workable. I mitered the 90° joints end-grain to end-grain and used some silicone caulking to prevent water infiltration into the joint hopefully preventing the cracking. I also used a medium colored penetrating oil stain to protect the lumber from the climate.

Fresh copper color paint scheme.

In rebuilding the carriage, I added more dimension to the inside measurement to improve the freedom of movement hopefully preventing the torquing. At the Hallertau harvest this season, I will add some form of balancing line to the arm on that side of the carriage to break the torque just in case it occur again.

I gave the arms a sparkling coat of Rustoeum® copper spray paint to freshen up the look and to resit the bird poop which gets left on the arms. Since that application in May, the paint has dulled a bit with the reapplication of several applications of fresh avian guano.

Reroping the purchase line.

Other improvements to the trellis were also made. I replaced the ⅜” cotton rope purchase line with a nice soft ⅜” nylon braided rope. The cotton line degraded in the climate and broke in the fall causing some angst. It doesn’t need to be ⅜” thick, but it is easier to grab that thickness with your hand when taking out or dropping in the carriage.

1/4" Coir twine.

I also upgraded to a ¼” thick coir twine for the hops to climb instead of the jute twine. The cost difference was negligible. The jute became brittle and it broke a couple it times in the wind last season. I had to add a bit of new jute in between the broken ends. The coir iwine is very rough and allows the bine to grab onto it easily. It will degrade as well, but with it’s thickness and stiffness it will be much heartier than the ¼” jute. It certainly resisted the winds we got during the tornado's activity better than the jute could.

On calamitous note, the solar rechargeable light on the trellis top has now ceased to shine past sundown. As the late winter nights expanded, the beacon contracted. The rechargeable batteries must have died or the photovoltaic cell on the top became damaged. Needless to say... I’m not going to shimmy up the trellis to check either of them out. I’m not to sure about leaning an extension ladder against the pole either. If I only had an equal and opposite force or a trained monkey with pants to make this repair. This is an issue that I can’t fix on my own. Note to self: no light on the top next time. It defeats the credo of self sufficiency.

Other future improvement to make when the pole rots out underground would be to cut off seven feet of the still worthwhile pole and sink that 4 feet into the ground leaving three feet above ground. Then make a plywood saddle that would be afixed to the top of the sunken pole. In that saddle a new sixteen foot 4x4 pole could be pegged, as pivot joint. Then tilted up on the pivot and pinned vertically in place. This would make the pole nineteen feet tall allowing more vertical hop growth and the ability to lower the pole by myself to fix the light, replace the hardware, re-rope the purchase line or to store the pole horizontally during the winter.

Corner bracket on carriage.

After rebuilding the carriage I noticed the other day, a bird sitting on the upper arm the other day and that they were both hanging askew. I realized that the carriage joints broke at opposing miters. So I dropped the carriage to examine both miters and determined that there wasn’t enough wood to bite between where the screw holes were drilled and the edge of the miter and that little bit of wood broke free at one joint and that the opposing joint the same way. I went out to hardware store and got some 1-1/2" corner brackets, which I screwed on all four joints of the carriage and the repair was made. I wish I had taken time to spray the brackets with copper paint, but I wanted to get the job done tout suite.

All in all, this project continues to be a great source of enjoyment.

Chicha Americano

2011-02-07T16:33:00.000-05:00

Glass of Chicha

“What is this... what you call Chicha?” Everyone's talking about Chicha!

Probably because Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery has a show on Discovery Channel titled "Brewmasters" which is all about brewing beer the Dogfish Head way: "Off-centered ales for off-centered people." In Episode 3 (see embedded video excerpt at the end of this post), Sam traveled to Cusco, Peru to research the national beverage... Chicha. It's pronounced CHEE-cha and it's simple to make and Sam wanted to brew some at Dogfish Head. The color of Chicha De Jora[1] is light straw and very opaque with a creamy white head on it. The taste as reported by Sam and other writers is citrusy, grassy and a bit chalky.

You'll never see a commercial bottle or draft of traditional Chicha here in the U.S. because, brewers here by law have to brew with barley as a percentage of grain and Chicha is made with 100% corn, some sugar and herbs. To make Chicha the corn is picked, dried, moistened for germination, (in the old world, the corn would be ground and chewed and the brewer’s saliva, which contains amylase enzymes that aid the starch conversion, is mixed in), dried again to retard germination, ground coarsely, mashed, boiled, filtered and fermented with airborne yeasts and consumed young while still fermenting. This produces a 1-2% abv beverage. Children are given the unfermented Chicha as a soft drink; the animals are given the spent corn to eat; the adults wait a couple of days for the hard stuff. Everyone's happy.

Thanks for the beverage are given by performing these actions and reciting this prayer:

Spill a bit of the Chicha on the ground and recite, “Pachamama, (Mother Earth), we thank you for this delicious chicha.” Dribble some more on the ground... “We also salute Init (Father Sun), who chose the women to make chicha.”

Red marker of a Chicharia in Cuzco

When the Chicha is ready, red flowers are tied to the end of a stick and is stuck in the wall at an angle: hanging as an American flag would on the 4th of July. Fresh flowers denote fresh Chicha. Dried up and shriveled flowers denote... well, you guess. Now-a-days red plastic flowers or a red bag might substitute for the flowers.

This is going to be a fun experiment: brewing a 2 gallon Chicha Americano with my new two gallon plastic fermenter and I’ll use some of the old world tricks and new fangled ones. Since I am not a commercial brewer, I can brew this Chicha with 100% corn. For this I'll go with flaked maize which has a gravity of 1.038 and Piloncillo, a Central and South American dark sugar, which has a gravity of around 1.046. Brewing with This will give me an ABV around 2.7% – a bit stronger than the traditional. There will also be cinnamon, clove, fennel seed and mint. One gallon of Chicha from the batch will be consumed young and one gallon will go into a one gallon secondary fermentation for clearing and later primed and bottled.

2 Gal. Experimental fermenter bucket

Traditional Chicha is made in large clay pot then strained through hay that is layered inside a widely woven basket to separate the solids. I'll utilize my stainless kettle and use a course filter bag followed by a finer filter bag. I won't be gaining any of the grassy flavors from the traditional filtering since I'm not using the hay as a filter. I will also use a standard dry ale yeast rather than waiting for the wild ones to arrive for fermentation. I'll let the Chicha ferment a few days and taste. Then I'd like to let it go a couple more days and then prime when the terminal gravity is lower to get some fizziness. everyone in the U.S. expects beer to have fizz or else it's "Flat!"

There will also be no saliva added or used in this experimental batch because the flaked maize has already converted it's starches. No worries here. Anyway the boiling process at 212˚F would clean out the spitty stuff.

The full recipe and specifics can be found on the recipe page on my website.

"ni chicha ni limonada"? is the Spanish equivalent of "neither fish nor fowl." Literally it's, or chicha or lemonade!

Thanks Sam for the inspiration!

[1] Chicha de Jora is made with white or yellow corn flour. There are other Chichas such as morada - usually a homemade soft-drink made from boiled purple corn, pineapple and sugar. Also added are clove and cinnamon. Commonly served during lunch.

Oktoberfest Beer Soap

2011-02-01T15:23:00.000-05:00

Home brewed beer can not be sold. It is not subject to any Federal, state or local taxes. Home brewers have been known to take up a collection to help pay for the ingredients and then share the beer to those who invested in it. Since I can't sell my beer, I can use it as an ingredient in other products... like soap.

Beer Soap

Beer soap? What an idea! Of course. After some reading and studying the process of making of soap, I made an experimental three pound batch using my Oktoberfest beer that took the place of distilled water mixed with the sodium hydroxide. The beer used has to be flawlessly flat and cooled. If it wasn't flat you'd heave up a big ball of lye foam and if you didn't know, mixing the sodium hydroxide with water, or in my case flat cool beer, is extremely smelly.

Close up of grain in soap

This batch uses a bunch of solid and liquid vegetable oils which get blended with the beer/lye solution to saponify or make soap. Each oil has a specific function: smoothness, lather, surfactant, cleaning, et. al. I stayed away from adding any scent to smell what it was like unadulterated. It smells like natural vegetable soap with just a touch of malty beer. The color is great tan and brown and has a certain translucence. I also added toasted spent grain to the batch as an exfoliant. I need to find a way to get some hop scent into the soap to enhance the nature of beer.

There are a few bars of the Oktoberfest soap out there right now for human test trials. Side effects may include fresh smelling, smooth and clean skin.

There are other processes I need to refine as well to get a better looking natural product. In the future, I'll attempt to make a Witbier soap with some clove and bergamot extract as well as a stout shaving soap.

The Joys of Homebrewing 02

2011-01-27T10:31:00.000-05:00

I got a letter from a Glenn Knippenberg who operates a small brewery, which is a subsidiary of MillerCoors in Golden, CO. He wrote that he will be brewing a beer named Colorado Native which would be brewed using Colorado grown products. Unfortunately Colorado is underdeveloped in hop farming. He plans on buying some hops from other commercial sources and has assembled a gang of 500 hop growing enthusiasts around the country to grow hops for him. He projects that 99% in terms of weight in the brew kettle will still be from Colorado. He plans on sending each of his enthusiasts a rhizome of the hop variety that he want to use in his beer and will produce a "Planting and Care" document on the hops.

After seeing my hop trellis in the Gadget Issue in Zymurgy Magazine, he thought that my design would be beneficial for his gang to emulate. He asked me for permission to use images of my hop trellis and some of the copy from the article to produce the document on building the trellis for his hop gang.

I gave him permission as long as he gives me credit and posts my website link. I also asked him to send me a hop rhizome to plant along with the document he produces, so I can see what he's done with the image and copy. I also asked for some beer but I fear that might be more of a problem. No harm... no foul!

The Beet Beer Finally Gets Brewed

2011-01-21T17:00:00.006-05:00

Wort boiling with beets.

Finally after several significant snow blowings, shovelings and other personal stuff that gets in the way of the normal day-to-day, the Beet Lager got brewed. The color of the beer is strategic in this recipe. The wort started out a beautiful hazy straw color with the DME, maize and Carapils® malts. It ended up with a tasteful red as you will see in the images after adding the cut up beets were added. The SRM is 8.5 with the addition of the orange-red hue. See the scale Image below.

The SRM or Lovibond Scale

I didn't imagine that the amount of sugar that would be extracted from the beets would be as great as it was. I was expecting an original gravity of 1.046 including 3 lbs of DME, 7 oz. of maize and 7 oz. of Carapils® malt in 3 gallons of water for a projected total of 1.058. What I got was 1.075. That's 0.017 greater than expected.

Beet wort in fermenter.

I pitched the White Labs WLP840 American Lager yeast after transferring the wort to the fermenter rand setting it near the bulkhead door where the temperature is 56ºF. When fermentation begins, I'll slowly move the fermenter closer to the door to bring the temperature down to 50º and then rack to secondary and bring it closer to the door or in the bulkhead where it's 40º.

In the image to the right, you can see the color has deepened because the trub has been removed from the wort.

I added cracked peppercorns and some Grains of Paradise to the wort for a bit of spice.

I'm looking forward to a taste of this beer in about ten days.

That Beet lager

2010-12-30T13:30:00.000-05:00

While we're at the cusp of the new year, here is that beet lager beer I mentioned in a previous blog.

This will be a partial mash recipe where I'll start with a small cereal mash of maize and Cara-pils® malt. The maize give us that American lager flavor, while not providing the lightness we associate with pale American "Lite" lagers. The maize has to gelatinize at the top end of the beta-amylase process (148-150ºF) to extract all of the corn goodness. To that cereal mash I'll add more brewing liquor and the golden light DME and begin the wort boil. Towards the end of the boil, the 1-1/2 lbs. of beets, which were roasted, peeled frozen and thawed, will be added to the brew kettle. The color will be extracted. At the same time I'll add a bit of cracked Black Peppercorn, Grains of Paradise and a pinch of salt to spice it up a bit.

I'll ferment with White Lab's WLP840 American Lager yeast to provide a light but flavorful background and ferment between 50-55ºF for a couple of weeks. This beer is based on the category 1-C, American Classic Lager, but will be under style 21-A Spice, Herb or Vegetable beer since the recipe contains 1-1/2 lbs. of vegetables.

K&C Recipe Page

From all I've read and viewed, I understand that the beers produced do not taste like Beets. Thank goodness for that! Despite the unusual nature of this beer, I'm looking forward to brewing and consuming it. If it tastes like beets, I'll still keep some for others to taste and keep some in clear bottles for effect.

The entire recipe can be found on my Recipe Page.

Published Article

2010-12-22T11:18:00.000-05:00

The Gadget Ed., Jan/Feb 2011, Zymurgy

Well what do you know... I'm published! I have a small 2 column article in the Jan/Feb 2011, Gadget Edition of Zymurgy Magazine which just arrived in mail boxes across the country. Okay, with the photos it's 2/3 of the page. Editor of Zymurgy, Jill Redding, posted requests for submissions to the Gadget Edition on the AHA Forum. Here is the text of my submission:

Not only do I have a gadget, it's a tall gadget and it's also yard art! My hop trellis was easy to build, easy to install, easy to maintain and easy on the eyes. When you have neighbors with nice yards and gardens, you don't want to be the guy with an eyesore. I went though several incarnations and this concept was the most appealing and most functional design without being out of proportion to my neighborhood. All of my neighbors enjoy seeing the trellis and the progress of the hops. They also like talking about the decorative light on the top.
It took about a half hour to get the wood and parts home from the supply super store, two hours painting some parts and putting it together and about an hour to get it in the ground. The hardest part was to wait for the hops to grow. I utilized a 16' 4x4 pressure treated post and sunk it 3' into the ground. The hole was dug with a simple two lever post hole digger. It did the trick since I didn't encounter any rocks, which is amazing for New England! We've had a very windy winter and summer this year and the trellis, with the bines laden with hops, stayed firm in the ground. The frost didn't heave it up at all either. I've found the depth of the post to be satisfactory. Depending on other area's weather and climate conditions, the post may need to be sunk deeper or into gravel or cement.

Zymurgy Cover Jan/Feb 2011

   It is simply decorated with a copper look post light at the top. The pipe arms are primed and painted with copper spray paint. All go very well with the weathered post and cedar trim.
   I've encountered some problems that have been overcome, such as designing a long "needle" to thread the rope through the pulley at the top without having to climb all the way up on an extension ladder to thread the rope through the pulley. I also changed to nylon rope rather than cotton, which dried out and broke. Despite having only 13' above ground, I found the bine, which will climb higher, will stop growing at a certain point when it can't go up or sideways. More height could be added to the bineif I wanted by cutting off the the post at 4' above the ground and adding another post on top with a functional, yet decorative scab around the joint.
   It's so easy to let the rope off the cleat and lower the carriage down for harvesting. In the spring I can put the thread the twine through the arms and raise the carriage to the top for a season's growth. This season I had Hallertau hops on one side and Cascade on the other. Now that the trellis works well, I'll add another Noble and an American hop rhizome so I have a variety of hop bines on each line.

Jill responded to my submission writing:

Love it! Will definitely be using it in Gadgets issue. AHA director Gary Glass wants you to come build one in his yard. :-)

The only thing she edited out was more information about the trellis: the blog address, website and other photo links. N ow I have to send in my yearly dues to the AHA!

Oatmeal Cookie Ale 2

2010-12-14T15:31:00.000-05:00

Oatmeal Cookie Ale Label

The Oatmeal Cookie Ale is in the bottle. The three gallon batch was made for the holiday season and will be bottle conditioned for a Christmas pour. It's unctuous with the oatmeal and raisin flavors. I used Maris Otter malt which has become my favorite malt to brew with especially with English beer. It's sweet and biscuity. It produces a nice head and the perfect body. Also in the grist bill was brown malt which provided the deep brown, but transparent color and provides more taste. The dark brown sugar which I made with molasses and refined cane sugar provides the deep richness of the oatmeal cookie. there are no nuts or nut flavor in the beer. The hop bitterness supports, but doesn't overwhelm, the oatmeal taste.

I also want to report that the English Bitter has been in the keg. It's sitting in the cellar bulkhead between the inside door and the steel bulkhead door to keep it cool. I run downstairs and fill up a liter swing-top bottle and keep it in the fridge for dinner. It's so nice to keep beer on tap. Someday a kegerator type unit upstairs would be worth it. Right now though, the cool bulkhead is just fine.

Wacko by Magic Hat

We received a lot of beets from our CSA this late fall and neither Jen nor I are beet eaters. Out of the earlier bunches, I made some pickled beets and onions for my dad. Now with the last few bunches I'm going to make a beet beer. There is an abundance of fermentable sugar in beets and the Belgians use crystalized beet sugar in brewing, called Candi sugar, to increase the body and fermentability of their beer. From what I've read, there have been beet beers brewed. According to articles, the color is amazing and the beer does not taste like beets. One video blog reviewer of Magic Hat's "Wacko" (a commercially brewed beet beer) mentions that the beer has a pale ale aroma but there is something different and that the taste is of an English Pale Ale, but with a vegetable-like quality. The blogger also reports that that beer is light and thin in body. Not that's magic Hat's beer, not mine. I'll see what I can do to make it more interesting. the recipe and further blog on this beer will follow soon.

The other beer I want to make this winter is a Continental Lager based on the likes of Heineken or Carlsburg from a partial mash of Weyermann Pilsner malt, DME, Target and Herbruckner hops and Danish lager yeast. More on this one later. I'm putting the Rauchbier I blogged about on Sep. 25, 2010, is in on hold since I'm not too keen on mashing outdoors in the really cold weather. right now partial mashing is fine in the kitchen.

The Joys of Homebrewing 01

2010-11-22T11:37:00.002-05:00

Biere de Recolte on Paul C's kitchen table.

I gave Paul Collyer, an acquaintance of mine, a Kettle and Cask mix-a-six about a month or so ago. He recently opened a bottle of the Biere de Garde I brewed in August and he really enjoyed it.

His facebook entry read,

"Working late night and enjoying a "Beire de Recolte" home brew created by Steve Espach of Woo.......that's good beer Steve! Can I get a triple lutz cheer for Woo Senor Goslow......:)"

The joy is knowing that someone, other than those closest to you, appreciates your time, effort and talent. Thanks!

Oatmeal Cookie Ale

2010-11-13T10:45:00.000-05:00

LTHD set up at Dr. Gonzo's

After last Saturday's busy day with Learn to Homebrew Day, I brewed again on Friday. Now it's the Oatmeal Cookie Ale.

To recap... last weekend I brewed at Dr. Gonzo's Uncommon Condiments with several other enthusiasts for the AHA's Learn to Homebrew Day. I demonstrated by brewing a five gallon English Bitter extract kit for the beginners. We began about 12:00 and we were done with that batch at around 1:45 PM. For lunch I grilled some burgers over charcoal and we adorned them with some of the good Doctor's Condiments: Garlic Mash, Drunk Stunt Mustard and Big Jerk Sauce.

Matt and Demase, fellow home brewers at LTHD

We got back to work after the hour break by making a three gallon batch of "Hodge-Podge" beer with some leftover ingredients I had like a 3.3 pound can of Czech Pilsener extract, about a half pound of Candi sugar, a bit of corn sugar, a dash of coriander and some Sazz hops. This demonstration showed that once you master how to brew a kit you can advance by creating your own recipes using extracts. The next level of brewing is with partial mash kits, then partial mash your own recipes with the pinnacle of brewing... the all-grain batch.

The beer I made Friday was the Oatmeal Cookie Ale. The holiday season is upon us and we need a festive beer to drink under the tannenbaum. This year I moving away from any “Wassail” style of heavier bodied winter warmers with orange, clove and Dickensian flavors that I love so much and going towards comfort flavors and spices such as toasted oatmeal, raisins, cinnamon and vanilla.

This recipe rises off the pages of “Radical Brewing” by Randy Mosher. I've added raisins to the recipe to get that unctuous flavor. I also made my own dark brown sugar by mixing the proportions of 1 cup of cane sugar to 2 tbsp of molasses. The recipe calls for 10 oz. of dark brown sugar which is almost 2 cups loosely packed and I added 4 tbsp. of molasses plus an extra tablespoon to make it dark brown sugar.

This ale should have an O.G. of 1.056 and a F.G. of 1.014 resulting in a 5.53% ABV from using White Labs WLP006 Bedford British Ale specialty yeast. Northern Brewer hops at 9.8% AA were used for bittering and East Kent Golding hops 5.0% AA were added for aroma with 5 minutes left in the boil, giving us a bitterness of 29.0 IBU. The Brown malt, toasted oatmeal, dark brown sugar and the 90 minute boil time produce a medium brown color at 18.8 SRM. This beer will be categorized as 10-C American Brown Ale.

Please feel free to comment on any post by going to the blog entry and click on comment. The entire recipe can be found on my site's recipe page.

Learn to Homebrew Day

2010-11-01T15:17:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, November 6, 2010, Dr. Gonzo's Uncommon Condiments and I will be hosting the AHA’s 12th Annual Learn to Homebrew Day in the Mashpit behind the store at 122 Main St in Worcester, MA from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

Learn to Homebrew Day is an international event celebrated each year on the first Saturday in November with the goal of introducing people to the homebrewing hobby and establishing relationships with local business, homebrew supply shops and homebrew clubs. I'll be in the Mashpit to guide attendees through the brewing process whether they want learn by viewing or they want to dive in head first and learn by doing.

Any current homebrewers attending the event are asked to bring samples of their home brew to share and taste throughout the day. We'll also have a keg of craft beer on tap so remember to bring your ID with you because participants must be 21 years or older.   At the end of the day, victuals will be grilled by a winner of Dr. Gonzo's Grill Cook-Off Challenge and served with some of the good Dr's Uncommon Condiments.

I'm going to demonstrate how to brew an English Bitter extract kit.  This kit will produce 5 gallons of beer and it will be ready in 4 weeks. Plenty of time for pre-Christmas serving!

This English Bitter kit (instructions PDF) includes 3.15# of Gold liquid malt extract (LME), 1# of Golden Light dry malt extract (DME), 1/2# Simpsons CaraMalt (a specialty pre-crushed malt that is steeped), 1 oz of Kent Goldings hop pellets for bittering and 1 oz. of the same for aroma. The yeast is Danstar Windsor dry ale yeast and 3 oz. of priming sugar will be used later for carbonating the beer.  This batch should take about 2-1/2 to 3 hours to make. This link will tell you a lot about the English Bitter style. http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style08.php#1a.

You can visit my site's Learn to Homebrew Day page to read more about the event on Saturday.November 6th, 2010!

Please visit the event's Facebook page.

The End of Hops Season

2010-10-25T16:49:00.000-04:00

The end of the hop season has come. The bines were cut back, but the plants near the ground still remain. I will trim and cover the rest in a couple of weeks. I've even produced "My Hop Garden: Part 2." This is the last installment of the video chronicle of the hop garden and what was done with it. You can watch it here of go to my sites video page and watch Part 1 and 2 on the same page.

I've taken the hops and made a Fresh Hopped Brown Ale as I was discussing in a post in August. I used the Hallertau for bittering and the Cascades for flavor in a dry hop and in a post fermentation Randall process for aroma. Keeping it all as fresh as possible.

The Randall is short for Randall the Enamel Animal first invented by Dogfish Head brewery. This tool takes carbonated beer - sending it through a filter, which holds fresh hops rather than filter material. As beer flows through the Randall it is infused with the fresh flavors of hops. I used the same process but readied my beer for bottling by pushed my beer with a light 5 psi of CO2: through an orange carboy cap into the glass carboy, which pushed the beer up a racking cane, through a cartridge filter filled with the Cascade hops and into the bottling bucket where I had poured the priming syrup, gently stirred, bottled and capped the beer.

It's been aging in the bottles for a couple of weeks and it should be ready to test right now!

Joy of Joys (the Most Amazing Clone Recipe Ever)

2010-09-25T14:08:00.000-04:00

Do my eyes deceive me? Was ist das? In Brew Your Own Magazine, Oct 2010, Vol. 16, No. 6, this month: Schlenkerla Brewery's Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier, a.k.a. liquid bacon beer.

Aecht is a Franconian word for real. Schlenkerla is the local term for someone who is swinging ones arms while shuffling along the street, as well as the name of the brewery in Bamberg, Germany that makes this beer, and Rauchbier, as you may remember from early posts in this blog, is beer made from beechwood fired smoked malt, a.k.a. rauchmalz. Also located in Bamberg is the Weyermann Malt House, famous for its rauchmalz. Coincidence? I think not!

But! After reading more of the article I find out to my dismay that the recipe included is not really a clone of Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. It is a Classic Rauchbier recipe. I'm not saying that Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier isn't a Classic Rauchbier, According to the author Schlenkerla makes their rauchbier with 100% smoked malts, aka rauchmalz, which they malt and smoke themselves. The clone-esque recipe uses only 28% rauchmaltz, 59% munich, 8% Caramunich®, 2.5% Carafa® Special Malt 1 and 2.5% acidulated malt. So my question is: what can I do in a recipe to get closer to the original 100% recipe and that delicious rich, deep smokey taste?

I posted this question on the AHA Forum: "Since Weyerman and Schlenkerla are both in Bamberg, is it likely that they use the same malt for smoking? What might that malt be?"

Some responders to the forum wrote that Schlenkerla smoked pilsner malt. Others wrote munich malt. Is the smoking a part of the kilning in the malting process or an after malting process? Someone else wrote that they though the rauchmaltz you can buy from Homebrew supply stores is smokier than Schlenkerla's proprietary smoked malt. He recommended using only 30-40% of the commercial rauchmaltz. It was interesting that the not-so-clone recipe uses 28% rauchmaltz.

What I'm going try is:
50% Weyerman Rauchmaltz for uber smokiness
44% Munich (swapping the majority of malt in the recipe printed) providing more color and mouthfeel
3% Carafa® Special Malt 1 for color only
3% acidulated malt will assist the mash conversion.

I will also be making a 3 gallon batch again for this specialty lager. I think I'll attempt to brew this beer in November for the best fermentation temperatures. More recipe information is posted on my website.

The Mash Out and Bière de Récolte

2010-08-24T14:15:00.000-04:00

Paul and I in the Mash Pi

On Saturday, August 21, 2010 I attended the "Mash Out" out back of Dr. Gonzo's Uncommon Condiments in the Mash Pit. It's your everyday back yard event... except that it's behind Dr. Gonzo's store. The store is built into the side of a hill, which starts up on Harvard St. and slopes down to Main St. There's quite a grade there. Carved out of the hill is the back patio area know as the Mash Pit. Stu Esty (Dr. Gonzo) has cook-offs using his products and other other events, where live bands play and fun runs a muck.

Jared's brewing system

The Mash Out invitation was sent out on Facebook and was forward to me by Pat Gouin. Brewers could come and make some homebrew, taste each others beer and have a good times and talk about beer. It was hosted by Stu and Matt Glidden. I got to meet a few new folks such as Kelly, Paul (who was learning to brew,) Jared (squatting in the image to the left), Crystal, Jess, Ricky, Andy, Rob and others stopped by. Kelly and Matt made some pretzels and brought cheeses and salami from Ed Hyder's Mediterranean Market. Matt also procured some growlers (and hops for Jared) from the Wormtown Brewery. Stu brought out some great mustard to dip and spread.

We tasted a lot of beer. Jared first poured his Mango IPA which was sweet and hoppy. There was a nice opposition between the sweetness and hops. He also brought a whiskey barrel porter, bourbon stout and a deep rich barley wine, which we all loved. (I hope I got those all right.) The Wormtown offerings were the Be Hoppy IPA, Turtleboy, FU IPA, Blonde Cougar and Foxy Brown. I brought the American Craft Beer Wheat, Tongue Splitter, Smythicks Irish Red and the Strumpkin. The ladies liked the light sourness of the wheat. The Tongue Splitter has oxidized a bit so it's a bit duller now. Everyone enjoyed the mellowness yet powerful pumpkin Strumpkin. I'm impressed with its mellow complexity from the nutmeg power! Finally everyone got a good belch and flavor out of the Irish Red. It's a bit too carbonated for the style, but the taste is good and the carbonation cut through the richness of the cheeses and mustard.

Having a great time.

Jared brewed a large batch of Belgian Wit using his 10 gallon system and I brewed a smaller 3 gallon batch of Bière de Récolte, which is a French farmhouse harvest variation of a Bière de Garde. I decided to do the smaller batch so it was easier to transport. Brewing went well... only one very short boil over! It was great to be brewing a farmhouse ale surrounded by the craggy jointed stone foundation amongst the dust and spiders and daylight spattering through the planks of the stairway and decking overhead, quite reminiscent of a barn construction. I hope I didn't get any wild yeasts in the pot.

My Bière de Garde used 2.5% AA Alsatian Strisselspalt hops. The grain bill included 76% Pilsner malt, 10% Belgian Munich, 65% Dark Wheat, 2% Belgian Caravienne, Aromatic malts and clear Belgian Candi, which brought the O.G. up to 1.055. That's a bit low for a formal BdG. When I got home I pitched the Whitelabs 072 French Ale yeast. Fermentation was active the next day. You can see the full recipe on my site's recipe page.

We're looking forward to another Mash Out in the winter. I'll brew an extract with Paul if he wants to and we'll drink the Bière de Récolte. I'll also drop a flip-top liter off for Stu to wet his whistle and get some mustard!

Bonne brasserie!

Planning a Fresh Hopped Ale

2010-08-14T12:54:00.000-04:00

We're getting very close to hop harvest time. In fact Saturday night could be it for the Hallertau hops. What beer to make with those hops in the garden?

Dried Hallertau hops

I think I'll make an American Brown Ale, using those freshly harvested Hallertaus for bittering at sixty minutes in the boil, and then many additions of Hallertau for flavor and aroma at five minute intervals with twenty minutes remaining in the boil. Later on I'll use the Cascades, which mature later, for a dry hop in the secondary and an aprés brew infusion as I bottle. The American Brown style 10C can take a bit more hops than a Northern or Southern English Brown Ales 10A & 10B can and still have a good shot of maltiness to balance. That beer should be well rounded. More details follow below.

Long Cascade hops

I'm amazed at the size of the Cascade hops. Usually they're 3/4" to 1" in length. There are several of them that are 1-1/2" in length. Look at the size in the image to the right. The Hallertau hops at the top of the trellis are as brown as the grass, due to the strong winds from the southwest and the heat of this summer. In Worcester we've had over 20 days with temperatures over 90 F. So there has been a lot of watering. The hops in the middle of the bine are starting to dry nicely compared to the top of the bine.

Regular sized Cascade hops

I've had the twine break on both sides of the hops. Last week the wind was blowing up a gust and the Cascade hop side's twine broke leaving the bines on the ground. While Jen assisted me by holding the bines off the ground, I lowered the upper carriage and tied a new two foot piece of twine between the two broken ends through the tee fitting on the pipe arm. Then I hoisted the carriage back up to the top pulling the hops back into position. The twine was tightened and knotted on the bottom arm. I have to work out some kind of grommet to ease the transition, so the wind blowing the twine against the pipe threads doesn't shear the twine causing a warn area on the twine that could break. Some kind of silicone buffer.

As some may remember, I've also been taking photos of all the hops bi-monthly. You can see the progressive images at my site. I'm also preparing another video chronicling the latter part of the hops season. Part 2 to The Hop Garden Part 1.

Note bene: I'm also brewing most higher gravity all-grain beer in 3 gallon batches now because the volume of grist & brewing liquor fit better in my 5 gallon lauter tun.

Fresh Hop Brown Ale
23 Specialty Beer
based on 10-C American Brown Ale
Author: Steve Espach

Size: 3.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 180.79 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.054 (1.045 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.016)
Color: 19.98 (18.0 - 35.0)
Alcohol: 5.34% (4.3% - 6.2%)
Bitterness: 35.9 (20.0 - 40.0)

See the rest of this recipe on my recipe page.

Hops, Hops and More Hops.

2010-07-21T15:51:00.000-04:00

I produced a new three minute video last week on the progress of the hop garden from April through July 4th and put it on my website and on YouTube®. The video is embedded below. I'll do a video update in late August or September (depending on the weather conditions) following harvest. I also added some more photos of hops to the website.

I've figured out what to brew with the hops harvest. I'm considering a three gallon batch of Fresh Hop Ale based on New Belgian Brewing Company's famous Fat Tire Ale, but I will just use the bittering hops from the clone recipe since it'll have a better bittering, e.g. higher alpha profile, than the fresh hops and then I'll use one ounce of my Hallertau for flavoring and another ounce for aroma. What ever hops are left over, I'll either dry hop or Randall-ize at keg service. This will probably provide a fresher herbaceous (aka "grassy) result.

If there are enough hops I'll make a five gallon batch. Enjoy the video!

Here Comes the 4th

2010-06-28T20:45:00.018-04:00

The Gershwin's scored, "Strike up the Band!" Shakespeare penned "Sound the alarum bell!" George M. Cohan coined, "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy... Born on the Fourth of July." And comedian Jeff Foxworthy jested, "You may be a redneck if... your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand." It's time to celebrate the 234th anniversary of our nation and the 3rd anniversary of my wedding.

It's time for the pop! bang! and fizzle of the Worcester-East-Side-every-friggin'-home-in-the-neighborhood-annoying-24/7-and-a-half-since-Memorial-day-sounds-more-like-Taliban-machine-guns-in-Kanduhar-Amature-and-still-illegal-in-MA-but-not-RI-and-NH-fireworks-displays. Phew! I like fireworks when professionals shoot them off, but if some dufus next door shoots them off and our roof burns... I'm not only smelling smoke, I'm also smelling lawsuit!

Enough with the rant. The Sundae Stout, as I've now dubbed it, is looking good. There's no chocolate or fruit in the stout. The "Sundae" moniker comes the from the way it's going to be served, which I'll describe in two paragraphs. As of Monday I'm not sure the batch will be carbonated for Friday, so I'm going to package some beer in 12 oz. bottles and prime those. They can take all the time they need to carbonate.

To have some expressed for Friday night's Dessert and Fireworks Party, I'll package some beer into 2 liter plastic soda bottles, chill and then force carbonate. That will have some ready for the dessert tray!

Here's how I'll serve the beer for dessert: First, I'll take a pint glass, probably an environmentally happy plastic one; then put a piece of my wife's homemade gingerbread in the bottom of the glass; toss in a couple of tart cherries if desired; pour on the stout which hopefully have a sweet milky texture and flavor to it courtesy of the lactose, molasses and turbinado sugar added; float a scoop of vanilla ice cream in that, sprinkle a few toasted walnuts and finish with a squirt of caramel sauce on top. Drink up and don't spare the napkins! Or have it in the glass and "May the road rise to meet ya!"

Winding up this post, this is the Father's Day card that I sent to my Dad from JibJab. He probably just got it since he was away in Utah on Father's day. So if you missed the card Dad, here it is! Happy Father's Day on the eve of the 4th.

Everyone enjoy a safe 4th of July weekend!

Decisions, Decisions... A Sweet Stout?

2010-06-22T18:00:00.001-04:00

What beer to make for the 4th of July Fireworks party this year? Last year I made the Jenny's Blues, which was a blueberry cream ale. But what beer to have for this year's 4th of July Fireworks party? This year Jen and I will be again having people over to on July 2nd to watch the Worcester fireworks and to celebrate our wedding anniversary, but instead of a full fledged barbecue gathering, we're having people over for dessert and then the fireworks show.

My Dad, cousin Nancy and Donald under the
umbrella at last year's rainy party

The first year we had the party, it rained, but then cleared. Last year it rained heavily on the 2nd and the fireworks were canceled to the 3rd, so we postponed the party to the next night. On the 3rd it rained heavily and the fireworks were canceled again, but we had the party anyway – cooking under the umbrella and fitting 40 wet people into our house.

Despite the bad weather we had a good time (except for the clean up the next day). Saturday the 4th was a beautiful day and so was the 5th when the fireworks were finally shot off.

We can't really decide on the date of the party until the City decides which day they plan to have the fireworks and we found having a rain date for the following night a huge pain in the backside because of the logistics, so this year we planned on simplifying the process by having a dessert party and there is no rain date.

Emeril's Stout float, from the Food Network

So what would be the perfect beer to serve for a dessert? I'm figuring a Sweet Stout which could be consumed on it's own or it could be served as an ice cream or as an ice cream float. "WHAT!" you screamed. Well let's take a look at both of these desserts before you balk. Emeril Lagasse has both of these in his repertoire: A Guinness ice cream, which is made from dealcoholized stout mixed in an vanilla ice cream base and a Guinness and ice cream float, which has ice cream and cake floating in the stout. Both of these were found on the Food Network.

I thought a Sweet Stout would be a better idea with dessert to have on its own or to mix with some cherry syrup, ice cream or cake. It'll have creaminess and body with the addition of lactose, sweetness with the addition of turbid sugar and a decent shot of alcohol to let you know it;s a holiday. I'm also going to make a 3 gallon batch because it's easier to mash in my 5 gallon mash tun and to package for the holiday. Here's the recipe I'm going with:

Sweet Stout
13-B Sweet Stout
Author: Steve Espach
Size: 3.0 gal

Efficiency: 70.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 196.62 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.059 (1.044 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.012 - 1.024)
Color: 34.18 (30.0 - 40.0)
Alcohol: 5.81% (4.0% - 6.0%)
Bitterness: 31.2 (20.0 - 40.0)

The rest of the recipe can be found on my site.

News from the Hopfengarten

2010-06-16T11:58:00.002-04:00

The hallertau hop bines have grown up one side of the hopfenspalier (hop trellis) and doesn't quite know where to grow to now. I'm nervous that the bine will grow onto the arm and over to the cascade side and gunk up the raising and lowering of the carriage. In my favor, the wind is usually blowing from the south/southwest, which is preventing the bine from growing towards the wind from the right of the image. I'd also consider trimming off the top of the hallertau above the arm so more energy would go into growing the other side of the hops, but I fear doing some irreparable damage to the hearty bine. After some more reading, I understand that when the bine can no longer grow upward, the plant automatically will put more energy into the growth of cones.

There are numerous hop cones already growing off the bines. This plant is markedly more productive this year. As you can see in the image to the left, there are about seven cones growing on this shoot and there are so many more shoots this year too. I estimate that I will have five times more hallertau hop cones this season.

I'm referring to the hops as cones. Firstly, the part we use for beer spice is not a cone. Cones are the dry fruit of the conifer tree. Secondly, the Humulus lupulus we use are the flowers from female hop perennial herbaceous plant. Thirdly, we refer to the flowers as cones because the flowers look more cone-like rather than flower petal-like. The hop flower produces the tiny yellow capsules, called Lupulin, containing resins and essential oils. The resins produce bitterness and aroma while the oils produce the flavor we know from hops.

Hop growers do not want male plants in the vicinity of the female plant. If females are pollinated, they produce a viable seed, which is considered undesirable for beer. Brewer's hops are cultivated by the asexual propagation of the rhizome.

A Memorable Taste of the Crescent City

2010-06-12T21:56:00.000-04:00

During our vacation to New Orleans we stopped on a Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM to take a tour of the New Orleans Lager and Ale (NOLA) Brewery at 3001 Tchoupitoulas St. Jen and I were taking streetcars and buses everywhere while in New Orleans, so from our St. Charles St. Condo rental we walked the block to Louisiana Ave. and took that bus south to Tchoupitoulas St. and then walked the six blocks to the brewery. We arrived about an hour early, but no worries. The staff invited us in to sit down. Melanie turned down the A/C and Indy got us a couple of beers. Jen started with water, then moved to the Blonde and a Brown Ale. I started with the Hurricane Saison.

Before two o’clock others started to arrive. The Smiths from Pensacola, FL came in all hot and as sweaty as we were and were offered the comforts only a brewery can provide. A gentleman from Orange County, NY also arrived. Both he and the Smiths met Kirk Coco, the brewery owner, the previous night at separate, but just as equal, drinking establishments in the French Quarter, who invited them to come the following day to the brewery for the tour.

Also at the tour that day were three gents, who were associated with Abita Brewery in Abita Springs, LA, just north of Lake Ponchartrain. They were at the brewery when we arrived. Three other college students came for the tour as well. Two of the girls were students recently graduated from New Orleans universities and the guy they were with with was visiting them from Brookline, MA.

Before the tour began officially, Indy and Melanie refreshed our beer. This time I tried the Hopitoulas, a hoppy IPA, which was so fresh. I’m not a big hophead, but this was great – real fresh and tight on the tongue. We were on our way with Melanie, the head brewer in her rubber boots, providing the information we so desired.

Take a look at all of the pictures from the tour when you finish reading.

The first stop was to the grain crusher. 55 pound bags of grain are plopped by hand onto a mother of invention home-made sheet metal gravity fed slide devise. From the slide the grain passes into the crusher through rollers where the hull is cracked and the center part of the kernel (the endosperm) is exposed. After the grain was crushed it was moved to a silo by an auger in a PVC pipe. The grain is stored in the silo then Melanie tells us that it is then moved again by another auger to the mash tun where hot water, or liquor as it known in brewing (liquor is for brewing and water is used to mop the floors), is added to the grain at pre-described temper-atures to convert the starches found in the endosperm into fermentable sugars.

After the mash is completed the wort (unfermented beer which is pro-nounced wert) is moved to the lauter tun where the grain is drained of the sugary liquor and is sparged. This is a process where more hot liquor is sprayed over the grain bed to rinse the grist of any other residual sugars.

From the lauter tun the wort is moved to the brew kettle. In the kettle the temperature is brought up to the boil. During the hour to one-and-a-half-hour process, hops and other ingredients and finings are added to the brew. After the boil the wort is transfered to the whirlpool, where the wort is stirred into a small vortex and the spent hops and hot break (the protein that comes out of the wort during the boiling) is piled in the center of the whirlpool and the hot wort is taken out the side through the chiller, which brings the hot wort from boiling temperature down to 72ºF or lower temperatures for fermentation.

Melanie tells us the cooled wort is moved through hoses to the conical fermentation tanks where the yeast is added. After a bit of time, depending on the beer being made, the yeast begins it’s cycle of life converting the sugary wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The CO2 escapes from the top of the fermenter down to 5 gallon plastic bucket filled with sanitized water. The water is an airlock, which prevents the gas and the air in the brewery going back up into the fermenter. The sound of the airlock is like that of a babbling brook swollen with the spring snow melt off. The beer remains in the fermenter for about a week.

The yeast which has done it’s job after the week settles into the bottom cone of the conical fermenter. Melanie explains that dormant but viable yeast can be reused, so it is collected and saved for the next batch of beer. She showed us a hose which is eliminating spent yeast which is being discarded into a floor drain. This ex-yeast causes no harm to the environment. The remaining beer in the conical fermenter is then pumped through a diatomaceous earth filter, like that used for swimming pools, for a rough filtering. Followed by a plate filter for finer cleaning. Then it is stored in the bright tank for carbonation an aging. The fermenters and the bright tank are cooled through a jacket on the exterior of the tanks with glycol to keep them at the proper temperatures for fermentation and aging. After a period of time the beer in the bright tank is kegged and stored in the cooler room.

Let me say that even in the shade of the brewery it was a steamy 85ºF, so walking into a 38ºF room was a De-Light! My glasses frosted over. Even the camera lens was frosty. In the cooler the beer is lagered in their new fangled synthetic kegs or in their draft-pack system (much like a Party Pig system). From the cooler the beer is distributed in throughout the city. Due to Louisiana law, small breweries cannot self distribute. They must use the built in distri-bution system. It’s a pain to produce enough beer to get into bottle distribution. When NOLA gets a bottling line, they will be in better position to produce more beer and get it into stores in six packs. Here in the Commonwealth, craft brewers producing under a certain number of barrels a year (a barrel is 31 gallons in the US) can distribute their own beer. When we left the cooler the 85º 75% humidity hit us again and my glasses fogged up for a long time.

After the cool down, another top off of Saison and the free tour we were brought into the souvenir room. They had hats, shirts, soap and coasters for sale. Jen got herself some Brown Ale soap with spent grain in it as an exfoliant. It smelled great with the other herbs added. I got a NOLA hat and a Hopitoulas coaster. Were were glad to buy the stuff since the tour and all the beer was free. One problem... they didn’t take credit cards. After some chatting, Melanie said that she’d take us up to Magazine St. to an ATM. She was also taking the Smith’s up to Stein’s Deli, where there was an American Craft Beer Week tasting going on. Melanie and Indy were also getting a cab for the three kids.

While some other things were going on in the brewery, the Smiths, Melanie Jen and I were talking about beer, the oil spill, beer and homebrewing and about more beer. And of course drinking more beer in the office. I kind of felt like the boss who tells everyone to chill out for the rest of the day. How much beer did we drink? I don’t know cause we all were sweating it off. I guess we drank enough cause Jen put on the “Beer Goggles.” Good thing we are already married!

After an hour or so we all piled into Melanie’s yellow ochre Micro Bus: The Smiths on the back seat/bed, Jen in a fold-up lawn chair, Melanie behind the tiller and I in the passenger seat. We departed the brewery waving bye to Indy and then driving east on Tchopitoulas to Jackson and then North to Magazine St. There was Stein’s Deli. We all got out and went inside. We had a look around the deli. There were lots of folks inside tasting beer for American Craft Beer Week. Jen went off to get the cash for the souvenirs and I tasted another beer from somewhere which I can’t remember what it was and where it was brewed. I had a nice chat with the pourer, but still can’t remember what it was. Jen got back and payed Melanie for the souvenirs. We decided it was time to get some dinner and we said our good byes and we’d hop a bus down Magazine St. Melanie said that she’d drive us there because she had to go back to work anyway. So we took her up on the offer. She dropped us of at Cassamento’s at Napoleon and Magazine Sts.

We thanked her again and asked her to thank the staff for a great afternoon and that we were sorry that we didn’t get to meet Kirk the owner. We gave her a hug and she was on her way back to work at NOLA.

By the way, when we got to Cassamento’s, we found that it was closed for the summer so dejectedly we went back east on Magazine St and ate at the Bulldog where I had a pint of NOLA Brown Ale. They have a great water feature in the beer garden with water falling from taps into a trough. How cool! And you know what? The Smiths showed up there a little while later. what a day!

Laissey la bonne biére verser!

 (Let the good beer pour!)

Big Brew Day and American Craft Beer Week... Here, There & Everywhere

2010-05-10T21:04:00.000-04:00

Big Brew Day was on May 1st and American Craft Beer Week, will be May 17th-23rd, which is fast approaching, but since I was working on an opera... yes, Opera... that's opera with a big O... Grand Opera, but on a smaller scale. Commonwealth Opera's Lucia Di Lammermoor, by G. Donizetti, was presented at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA on Friday, May 7th and 9th.

Back to Big Brew. I'm going to brew the American Craft Beer Wheat recipe found on the AHA site and below, tomorrow. It'll be a coldish day and hopefully less windy. I'll be way behind the curve for serving the beer during American Craft Beer Week, but I'll have it soon after. I'm also going down to New Orleans with my wife for a brief week vacation on the 17th, which is coincidentally the beginning of Craft Beer Week. Among the myriad of destinations we have planned for this trip are several beer related destinations to balance the yarn related stops.

Crescent City Brewhouse will be my top site to consume in.
Heiner Brau, is on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain, but is beyond the scope of this trip. Thankfully their beer can be found at several locations in the Quarter such as Jager Haus on Conti St. or Zea on Charles St. near where we're staying.
New Orleans Lager & Ale Brewing Company, a new brewery may be a good turn.
Gordon Beirsch, near Harrah's Casino is a corporate brew pub but offers a 15% AHA discount. A balance will have to be struck here.

We'll be reporting our tastings while we're down in NOLA

Anyway here is the Craft Wheat recipe...
I'm also going to post this recipe on my website so you look at it there and other recipes as well:

American Craft Beer Wheat
6-D American Wheat or Rye Beer
Author: Stan Hieronymous
Date: 5/11/10

Size: 5 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 137.08 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.041 (1.040 - 1.055)
Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (1.008 - 1.013)
Color: 5.95 (3.0 - 6.0)
Alcohol: 4.06% (4.0% - 5.5%)
Bitterness: 20.3 (15.0 - 30.0)

Ingredients:
4.50 lb Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt
3.375 lb Briess White Wheat Malt
0.25 lb Briess Caramel Munich 60L
0.5 oz Chinook (11.50%) - added first wort, boiled 70.0 min
2.0 ea White Labs WLP320 American Hefeweizen Ale

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 56.0 °F
Source Water: 50.0 °F
Elevation: 180 m

00:20:44 Mash-In - Liquor: 2.54 gal; Strike: 160.61 °F; Target: 145.0 °F
01:20:44 Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 140.1 °F
01:21:44 Mash-Out - Water: 2.3 gal; Temperature: 206.7 °F; Target: 169 °F
01:31:44 Sparge - Batch Sparge: 2.5 gal sparge @ 173.0 °F, 10 min; Total Runoff: 6.36 gal

Notes
Slowly add the infusion liquor of 169° F (76° C) to the lauter tun,

• Add the hops to the boil kettle and collect enough runoff to end up with 5.3 gallons (20 L) after a 70-minute boil (approximately 6.4 gallons, or 24 L).
• Bring to a boil for 70 minutes, and then turn off the heat. Next,
• Chill to 62-65° F (17-18° C),
• Pitch the yeast and aerate well.
• Fermenting at 65° F (18° C) for a total of one week.
• Rack to secondary for another week.
• Rack to keg, or if you are bottling, add the bottling sugar and then bottle as you normally would.

Carbonation: Force carbonate at 3.0 – 3.5 volumes of CO2 —OR— Bottle condition using 5.0 – 6.3 oz weight (142-178 g) corn sugar

The all-grain recipes assume 75% efficiency unless otherwise stated. Adjust the grain bill to match your system.

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.10

Those Brew Balls... and Other Projects

2010-03-30T20:01:00.000-04:00

Those Brew Balls work really well. In this image to the right, you can see the green ball in the front, which is 1.010; the yellow ball in the back, which is 1.035 and the white ball behind and to the left of the green ball, which is 1.005. You can't see the red ball, which is 1.020. When I was in the cellar today working on my other project, the green and white balls are only visible. The green ball looks like it could drop at any time, This means that the specific gravity of the yeast starter is just at 1.010. It's done!

Since we're under the heavy rain today, I could not brew outside again. If this month has been the wettest March ever recorded and the second wettest month ever recorded in Massachusetts history, I can't wait to see the rain in April.
In lieu of brewing, I made a "Brewing Breeze Baffle." This baffle is added to my propane burner and deflects the wind around the burner's high pressure flame. when the wind blows on the flame, the heat is forced away from the bottom of the brewing kettle. This divergence causes a slowing of the boiling process and the loss of propane energy.

To the Left is the unbaffled propane burner. To the right, the baffled.

An eight inch piece of thin aluminum flashing was cut to length and then set around the burner to form the cylinder, measured, clamped then cut. #6x3/8" pan head machine screws, washers and nuts were used to keep the cylinder together. Then I used some 2"x3/16" screw eyes to hold the cylinder to the frame of the burner that also holds the kettle in place above the burner. A port was cut at the bottom of the cylinder where the inlet to the burner meets the propane hose. This port also helps to set the baffle in the same place each time. There are also vent holes in the bottom of the burner so that air may rise up for convection. The wind also enters through these holes and deflects the flame. The baffle also diverts the air around these holes and air can also rise from underneath for the convection. When the wind blows, it will now be diverted.

I hand sanded the burner frame to get rid of some of the rust, but I still need to emery paper and steel wool it – then some high temperature black spray paint to seal it. This I'll do outside so I don't pollute the inside house air. I also need a replacement burner for my other King Kooker burner so I have two burners available.

Someday I'd prefer to get a low pressure hurricane style "banjo" burner, which is 60,000 BTUs and greater. It has a gentle flame sound. The burner I have is high pressure and burns 30,000 BTUs and it sounds like a jet engine when it's on.

I hope to be able to use the thing on Thursday which will be our first warm and clear day. Then I can pitch the yeast which the Brew Balls are monitoring.

A Simple Monday

2010-03-24T17:02:00.000-04:00

No brewing Monday... It's an early morning in the Commonwealth, where a juror has to serve one day every three years, or as long as the case lasts in which the juror has been impaneled. I was called on Monday and after the introductory thirty minute video at 8:30 am o'clock, followed by a fifteen minute chat thirty minutes later by one of the Superior Court Judges and then a two-and-a-quarter hour wait, I was impaneled on a seven juror civil case. There were challenges, but there was no voir dier.

The new courthouse (to the left) on Main in Worcester is now the Commonwealth's largest court facility.

The Plaintiff alleged that the Defendant's auto ran into her while she was standing in the middle of a parking space saving it for her mother in the Worcester RMV parking lot casuing her injuries. After opening statements, the Plaintiff's attorney began his examination. thirty minutes later the Defendant's attorney began her cross examination. I could write more about this, but you the reader would be asleep after the 23rd "I don't recall." followed by the response, "Let me refresh your memory. Could you please read your response from your deposition on line..."

At one o'clock we broke for lunch. It was raining so I bunked in the Court House Cafe for thirty minutes.

After returning to the Jury Room, we were reunited with the parties by two-fifteen o'clock and the Defendant's attorney questioned the Defendant. Following the clear and concise responses to the questions in fifteen minutes, the Plaintiff's attorney began his cross examination. He tried to slip up the Defendant twice, but the Defendant corrected the attorney by saying, "That was not my statement Sir. My statement was..."

By three-thirty o'clock we were instructed in the three questions we needed to answer as a jury:

Was the Defendant negligent?
Did the Defendant's negligence cause the injuries of the Plaintiff?
What damages should be awarded to the Plaintiff due to the Defendant's negligence.

The judge, after a sidebar with the attornies allowed all seven of us deliberate instead of making one of us an alternate. He also instructed us that six-out-of seven of us had to agree to find the Defendant negligent. The judge further instructed us that we should not consider whether "standing in the spot to save it" for her mother is appropriate. We all laughed like Leno was telling us this in court

We were in the jury room for about a half-hour and had our decision. One hundred percent of us found The Plaintiff was not a credible witness. There was no other testimony in this case making this only a "she said/he said" case. Only one of us thought that the Defendant was negligent and after that the same juror could not find that his adctions caused the Plantiff's injuries. There was a lot more on this case that was presented by the Plantiff. Most of it made no sense to us. The Plaintiff's predominent evidence: medical records from treatment to her injuries, did not provide the preponderance of evidence (beyond a reasonable doubt and 100 of the jury must agree is needed in criminal cases) and to find the Defendant negligent.

Answer to Question 1... No negligence. The other questions need no further action. The judge thanked us and I was home by 4:45 o'clock PM and it was sitll raining.

So no brewing on Monday. No brewing on Tuesday while I was at the Amethyst Point office and no brewing on Wednesday cause it's too cold and windy out. It looks like I'll get to brew on Saturday, which will be our next warm and dry day. V.P. Biden called me to say, "That's f***ing great!" Check out the change in my brewing calendar.

Today in the mail I received my Brew Balls. I've always had brewing balls. These balls are used as measures of Specific Gravity. Each ball is about 3/4" round and are manufactured with different densities ranging from 1.055 (black dot), 1.035 (yellow dot), 1.020 (red dot), 1.010 (green dot) to 1.005 (no dot). The joy of this product is that the balls allow you to visually monitor the density of the beer fermentation without opening the fermenter and extracting samples to be read by a hydrometer. As the fermenting wort reaches each of the speciifc gravity levels, a ball corrosponding to that density drops out of suspension. Neat huh?

I've also been adding wort to my yeast starter to increase the quantity of yeast. Now that I have more liquid in the starter, I'm going to sanitize my new balls and drop them into the starter to see them in action. I'll be using the yeast starter on Saturday brew session.

Images of the balls at work to come!

It's Just a Kitschy Kölsch

2010-03-20T19:00:00.003-04:00

is Spring and it's time to get outside and brew again. I wanted to get to brewing on Monday.... The bad news is that I called the hotline and I have been called to jury duty on Monday morning. The good news is that it's supposed to rain too!

I'm going to brew a Kölsch all-grain beer kit, which I received for Christmas. These all-grain kits are unlike extract kits. They have the grains that need to be mashed instead of the already mashed liquid extract kits. The LME, or liquid extracts were made months or years ago and are not be as fresh as the grains are. All of the grist in the all-grain kit is milled fresh, the hops are measured and the yeast is included in one package. All you have to do is mash, brew, ferment and package. The time saving is that you don't have to come up with a recipe. It's all in the bag! Yet, mashing is more time consuming than making wort with LME or DME, but the results are much tastier!

Kölsch is brewed officially in Cologne, (or Köln) Germany. It's a clear beer with a bright straw-yellow hue, and it has a pronounced, but not uber hoppiness. Yet it's less bitter than the standard German Pilsners. Kölsch is an ale fermented at a relatively warm temperature (13 to 21°C, or 55 to 70°F) and then cold-conditioned, or lagered. This manner of fermentation links Kölsch with some other beer styles of central northern Europe, such as the Altbiers of northern Germany and the Netherlands. Kölsch is strictly defined by the Kölsch-Konvention (image to the left), an agreement between the members of the Cologne Brewery Association. The Kölsch style is described in "Light Hybrid Beer" "Kölsch" 6C in the BJCP Style guidelines.

It may be know as the first "Lawn Mower" beer, meaning that it easy to drink, refreshing and not very high in alcohol so that you can drink a few and still be able to mow the lawn without cutting off your toe nails!

I got started on the Kölsch Thursday with a yeast starter. Wednesday night I smacked the WYeast's 2565 Kölsch yeast pack and released the yeast nutrient and placed the pack on the stove to begin it's growth. This Thursday morning the pack had expanded completely. Later I put a pint (plus a tablespoon to lose to steam while boiling) of water into a pot and brought it up to a vigorous boil. I turned down the temperature for a bit and added a half cup of DME and stirred madly to prevent a boil over from happening. I turned up the heat to a hearty simmer and left the wort for ten minutes, covering it for the last four minutes. After the ten minute boil I cooled the wort by putting the pot into the sink with some cool water in it. Swirling the wort gently in the pot, will bring more warm wort in contact with the cooler water, bringing down the temperature from the boiling point to about 80ºF in a just a few minutes.

When the wort reached 80ºF I poured the wort into a sanitized one gallon glass jug (aka mini carboy) and the yeast pack, which was sanitized as well. I cut off the corner with sanitized scissors and poured the contents of the pack into the carboy. I also added 1/4 teaspoon of yeast nutrient. This nutrient gives the yeast the right balance of minerals needed for good fermentation, which are not found in the DME or tap water.

The yeast will eat the wort and reproduce, increasing the yeast cell count for a faster starting fermentation for the full 5 gallon batch. The starter will be ready by Sunday, but since I won't be ready for the starter on Monday, I'll repeat the process by making more wort, cooling and adding that to the original starter, keeping it fresh.

Kölsch
6C Kölsch
Author: Northern Brewer All Grain Kit
Date: TBD?

Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 186.87 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.056 (1.044 - 1.050)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.007 - 1.011)
Color: 3.24 (3.5 - 5.0)
Alcohol: 5.52% (4.4% - 5.2%)
Bitterness: 27.4 (20.0 - 30.0)

Ingredients:
9.0 lb Pilsener Malt
1.0 lb Wheat Malt
1.0 oz Tradition (6.2%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 oz Hallertau Select (1.5%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
1.0 ea WYeast's 2565 Kölsch

Schedule:
00:24:21 Mash In - Liquor: 2.5 gal; Strike: 133.56 °F; Target: 122.0 °F
00:44:21 Protein Rest - Rest: 20.0 min; Final: 120.9 °F
00:45:21 Infusion - Water: 2.5 gal; Temperature: 192.2 °F; Target: 153.0 °F
01:45:21 Sach Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 150.3 °F
01:46:21 Infusion - Water: 2.6 gal; Temperature: 212 °F; Target: 170. °F
01:56:21 Mash Out - Rest: 10.0 min; Final: 169.6 °F
02:16:21 Batch Sparge - Partigyle: 2.0 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 20.0 min; Total Runoff: 8.44 gal

Notes:
This is a Norther Brewer® all grain kit. This pale, light-bodied golden ale is traditionally given a long, cold aging period which makes it very smooth and clean. "Spritzy" is a word often used to describe Kölsch - very refreshing, and a popular lawnmower beer for beer snobs!

03/18/10 Made a yeast starter

Smacked the WYeast 2565 Kölsch yeast pack
1 pt boiling water
1/2 cu light DME
Boil 10 min.
Cool down to 80º F (26.6 C)
Add 1/4 tsp Yeast Nutrient

Ferment primary 55-64ºF (12.8-17.8 C) 1 week
Lager secondary 50-60ºF 1 week
Keg and carbonate at 2.5 vol/CO2 (make it "spritzy!")

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.7

Big Brew for 2010

2010-02-24T14:14:00.011-05:00

It's time again to prepare for Big Brew/National Homebrew Day. This year it's on Saturday, May 1, 2010. I hope to get together a group and a location where we can meet to brew, to share info and to have a good time. The AHA has posted three recipes online to brew and compare with your friends later on.

To view the recipes you have to register on the site for free, but you do not have to be a member of the AHA.

For all three of these recipes there are all grain and extract recipe versions available. The recipes are:

American Craft Beer Wheat. This recipe is from the new book “Brewing with Wheat: The ‘Wit’ and ‘Weizen’ of World Wheat Beer Styles” by Stan Hieronymus and is available on the AHA site by clicking on the title above. This recipe will also be brewed by craft brewers throughout the country and displayed at Craft Beer Week. This way craft brewers and home brewers can compare their wares.
Scottish Export 80 Schilling. This recipe is based on Greg Noonan's 1991 80 Shilling Ale, Single Mash method, found in his book "Scotch Ale."
Rocktoberfest is an Oktoberfest style beer courtesy of Vermont Pub and Brewery and is in honor of Greg Noonan who died last year. He and was the founder and his then wife were the co-owners of the Vermont Brew Pub in Burlington VT. 2010 is also the 200th aniversary of the first Oktoberfest celebration. Greg also wrote the book titled "Brewing Lager Beer."

I'm considering brewing the All grain wheat recipe. I'll have a refreshing beer available for summer consumption, but the others are . I also have to decide what to brew for the Anniversary/Cuatro de Julio party this year.

I'm also looking to getting someone to sponsor a location where a group of us can get together. If anyone has ideas let me know where you'd like to brew. If your interested in joining me let me know too. I'll keep you informed.

Before the event, participants that are planning Big Brew events can register their site on the AHA web site. These registered sites help the American Homebrewers Association track how many participants celebrated the event. Event results are posted a few weeks after the event on the AHA Big Brew page.

Last year on big Brew Day, brewers made over 13,000 gallons of either the Saison Du Mont or the SS Minnow Mild Ale at 342 sites on six continents worldwide. Sites were registered in 47 states and Puerto Rico, as well as Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Israel, Kenya, The Netherlands, Russia, and Switzerland.

I hope to see you on Big Brew Day wherever we have it.

Sake 101-1

2010-02-07T22:00:00.004-05:00

I'm looking forward to begin making saké. Saké is a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage that is made from rice. Many pronounce the beverage as sack-ee, but is it's more like sah-kay with the emphasis on the second syllable. The overall process looks easier than beer, but harder than wine. One of the main differences is the malting of the rice – the Kome-Koji, with the starter bacteria called Koji that will create the enzymes needed to convert the rice starches to sugars.

In beer, this process is accomplished though the mash, where hot liquor (remember we wash the floor with water, but we brew with liquor) is added to the grain raising the temperature in increments up to about 155ºF with rests at each increment of thirty to sixty minutes depending on the recipe and style. This heating with moisture activates the enzymes in the grain to convert the starches to sugars. In wine making there's no conversion of starch necessary since the fruit is already a sugar.

Someone who brews is called a brewer. The Active verb is brewing. Therefore, someone who makes wine is called a vintner and the active verb is vintning? But there's no such word as vintning.

In saké, Koji bacteria grows on the malt rice and activates enzymes in the rice which convert the starch to sugar. The temperature needed to grow Koji and convert the starch is around 86ºF. The rice also needs to be steamed first so the bacteria can grow. 86ºF is the same temperature at which the Kome-Koji, additional steamed rice and yeast need to ferment. That is higher than beer and wine.

The same equipment may be used in making saké as beer and wine. The one change is that you need the steamer to cook the rice in and a way to maintain the temperature at 86ºF to blossom the bacteria. Since I don't have an incubator, I'll use one of my Omaha Steak foam cartons and place a light bulb inside (away from the syrofoam walls) with a thermostatic control to maintain 86ºF.

I'm going to stick with a basic nine litre recipie to start with. It's called Doburoku. This is a fresh saké and has a milky white color. It's a chunkier version of Nigorizake which is pictured on the left.

I can make my Kome-Koji and then refrigerate it. I'll make that soon when I find a suitable medium or short grained rice. I can't use Uncle Ben's that for sure. I'll see if Arborio rice is good or I'll go to the asian market on Green St. and see what they have. Then I'll write more about the malting process and the following fermentation process soon.

I look forward to more postings on the subject. Stay with me.

Ola Dubh Special 12 Reserve Ale

2010-01-25T10:00:00.002-05:00

I received a bottle of Harviestoun Brewery's "Ola Dubh" Special 12 Reserve Ale as a Christmas present this past year. I got a chance to taste and review the beer on Sunday afternoon.

Ola Dubh Ale is aged in Whisky barrels that recently held Highland Park Distillery's 12 year old single malt Scotch Whisky. The bottle I tasted was numbered 09565 and it was brewed in September of 2007.

When poured you notice that it's lightly carbonated. Almost still like whisky. There is no head on this beer even when poured directly into the middle of the glass. A few bubbles from aeration hung around the edge of the glass. These bubbles had a glassy appearance, which transmitted the deep mahogany color. The color in the center of the glass is very opaque. No light penetrated the goblet except that light does penetrates only at the edge of the glass revealing that mahogany hue.

Taking a big waft of the beer I noticed raisins, dried cherries, deep vanilla and oak. There's a lot going on in my glass's aroma. After another good swirl, I noticed the deep caramel and molasses notes. There is also a deep breath of alcohol.

The first thing I noticed when sipping the beer was that the mouthfeel was not as heavy as I thought it would be. The beer has the same weight as a single malt scotch. There is a hospitable bitterness. It hangs on a bit and finishes dry. Your tongue wants some more. The bitterness lasts a long time if not affected by other foods. The carbonation is very light, just barely noticeable.

Flavors include a intensely caramelized malt, some hops spice, dark candy and more of the raisins and dates. There is also a scant note of coffee which is also evident in the bitterness and pale licorice when the beer is swished in the mouth.

This is a good fireside beer before dinner with pâté and a strong cheese or after dinner with a box of milk chocolate covered cherries. Both the pâte and milk chocolate would parry well with the beer's sweet bitterness I would also make a guess that the beer is brewed with the same mash from which Highland Park's single malt Scotch Whisky is made.

Southern Tier Brewery's Imperial Choklat Stout

2010-01-20T01:00:00.001-05:00

My oh my! What a luxurious beer is Southern Tier Brewery's Imperial Choklat Stout. Right away, when you pour this beer, you see it's dark richness. I warmed this beer to 48º as recommended on the bottle. I poured it smoothly directly into the bottom of a pint glass. You can see it's beautiful dark color as it pours with it's completely opaque, with a luxurious brown head that dissolves into a fine layer in a few minutes.

As you bring the beer to your nose give it a swirl to release the aromas. There is the absolute essence of dark chocolate. There are also notes of port wine, a bit of tangerine and very light smokiness.

Let it into my mouth! The richness settles over the tongue. Bitterness is present all the way. There is no ganging up of the bitterness of the chocolate and the hops. The major player is the deep dark chocolate flavor, but here is also a toasty smokiness and malt sweetness present. The hops flavor give the beer some spice and citrus soul, yet the chocolate flavor outweighs all of the other flavors correctly.

The carbonation is light. It nicely dances on your tongue settling to the back and down the throat, which lasts for a while on the pallet.

My overall impression is that this is a real sippin' beer. Take your time. Spend the evening with it. Let it know how much you love it. The stout isn't exuberantly hoppy, which is usually indicative of an American imperial beer. I feel it's imperial owing to the intenseness of the flavors, the 197 Lovibond darkness and the high 11% ABV.

I paired this beer with a homemade brownie after dinner last night. The brownie was crispy on the outside and chewy inside. I broke off a piece and dunked it into the beer. Mmmmm! A scoop vanilla, chocolate or cherry ice cream would make a nice float! I want to try it with a shot of Irish Whiskey and a dollop of whipped creme like an Irish Coffee.

Also try Southern Tier's Crème Brûlée Stout.

Review of Gritty McDuff's Christmas Ale

2010-01-13T20:30:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe but that last posting and review was the first blog of Twenty-ten...

It's 18 days till my wife's birthday.
It's 36 days till pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
It's 116 days till the hops pop up from the ground.

...and now another review.

Gritty McDuff's Christmas Ale was another of "Joe's monthly picks" which my sister and brother-in-law gave me For Christmas. The Jolly-Old-Elf is illustrated on the label proudly holding out a pint of his ale in his right hand. There are also bottles of beer stuffed into the stockings in the background.

The Christmas Ale is good at lower drinking temperatures as well as warmer, (40-55º F). Drinking this beer at anything lower than 40º would stifle the beer. As I poured the beer directly into the bottom of my pint glass, a blooming light tan head appeared and then dissipated in about 30 seconds. It has a clean reddish brown hue which is most enticing.

Taking a sniff of the Christmas Ale you get the aroma of roasted malt supplying caramelized notes and just a touch of hops. There's not a lot of spice or herbal associated (except for the hops) with a holiday or Christmas ale, just that associated with that of a British Bitter.

The flavor has a just a hint of banana esters which give your pallet that ale fruitiness. There is plenty of malt flavor with the perfect balance of hops. It's a very simple beer. As the sweeter flavor diminishes, there's an edge of bitterness which lingers for a while. This is an appealing aftertaste for the British Bitter/ESB drinker. The effervescence is quite appropriate: the carbonation is present but not prominent - just enough to be right for this beer

The sweet beginning is followed by a distinct dryness while the bitterness finishes. McDuff's sports a 6.2% ABV, which is nice for a Christmas beer with the family huddled around the Fireplace and the plasma TV watching the game. It doesn't seem to fill you up, which will allow that extra slice of pie for desert.

Other Christmas beers are known to flaunt herbal, spice or real fruit aromas and flavors, as well as a higher ABV, which may provide you with a descent "Dickensian" experience, but they do not allow you to have more than two or three and still be able to drive the horse and carriage home after dinner.

Gritty McDuff's Brewing is located in Portland, ME.

Review of L'ange Tombe

2010-01-07T12:13:00.003-05:00

The label, which has a sexy falling angel on it is as intriguing as the beer itself. Not to say that the cover is better or worse than the book. The beer pours from the bottle giving a glugging sound. This action does not let this Saison's head to rise too much. There is just a light coating of tan suds on the top.
Labeled as a Saison Noir, this beer is darker than the typical Saison. More in the nut brown range than the usual golden amber. I poured this beer after it had come up to around 48 degrees F. I had a sip and let it warm up a bit more and found that the complex nature of the ale was better warmer. It let the aroma and flavor come alive. The scent is barnyardy while not too bovine. There is a full aroma of caramel, a bit of grassiness and a good helping of alcohol that penetrates your nose gently with it's 8.0 ABV.
The flavor is quite complex. A bit stronger than the usual Saison, there is a good dose of alcohol warmth and plenty of sweet flavor reminiscent of a Toll House® cookie (without the chocolate chips) balanced with just enough hops to spice it up. There are notes of tobacco, leather, hayloft with subtle hints of anise and cocoa.
The mouthfeel is robust but not thick. There's a requisite amount of carbonation which does not play too heavy on the pallet. There's just enough to lift the taste buds up and make them tingle.
This is a limited brew by De Proef in Belgium for Julio's Liquors in Westboro, MA. Check Julios on the web for details about getting this tasty ale. I live a few miles away and hope there is still some left on the shelves!

X-9A Experimental Clone

2009-11-14T10:30:00.002-05:00

I got busy mashing and and brewing on Monday making the X-9A: "eXperimental 9 Ale," which is an experiment on a variation of a clone of Magic Hat #9's recipe. With this beer, I adjusted the original recipe to mostly English ingredients and varied it to characteristics found in BJCP style 8-B Special/Best/Premium Bitter, but actually brew it under style 20A Fruit Beer. This alteration to style 20A leaves latitudes for changes in the base beer style due to sugars, flavors and other variations when the fruit added to the beer. The original #9 clone recipe was found in Brew Your Own Magazine's Classic Recipes edition.

I used English Maris Otter malt, which made up 53% of the grist. 42% was 2 Row American Pale malt and 5% was 60˚L Caramel malt for the amber color. I stayed with the original hops choices as presented in the recipe in the magazine so not to change the hop bitterness and flavor profile in relation to the apricot flavor. Under the style guideline for the category, American hops are acceptable:

"English hops most typical, although American and European varieties are becoming more common (particularly in the paler examples)."

Burton Salts are usually added to mash and brewing liquor to give a traditional softer water profile, which is found in the Burton area, but in this case I did not add salts following the recipe, not changing any fruit characteristics.

On Monday I brewed in the warmth of the sun after a late start due to unforeseen lessor interruptions. I was hoping to begin the process at 10:00 AM so that I would be done by the time the sun was gone at 5:30 PM, but I didn't get going until 1:00-ish and finished at 6:30 PM. Good thing it was sunny warm during the day the propane burner was on high as the sun went down. I also thought that there was plenty of propane in the tank. But no.... As I began to heat the mash liquor, the needle on the propane gauge went from just under half-a-tank to nothing in the tank. There was no increase in temperature of the mash liquor over the fifteen minutes the flame was on. When the "woosh" sound from the flame on the burner waned, I shut down the burner and ran over to U-Haul to get a fill up. I dashed home, hooked up the hoses and lit the flame again for the mash. Success! The liquor temperature began to climb.

On Tuesday the fermentation rose to a steady beat of CO2 at 75˚F from the airlock and today fermentation has slowed way down. Friday I allowed the beer relax and will rack the beer on top of the apricot puree in the secondary fermenter on Saturday. There will probably be an additional fermentation in secondary when the semi-dormant yeast comes in contact with the sugars from the apricot puree.

If I get a chance in the future, I will exchange the Maris Otter malt for another US variety and use an American yeast strain creating an American Amber Ale 10B and call it X-9B.

X-9A
20-A Fruit Beer (Based on 8-B Special/Best/Premium Bitter)
Author: Steve Espach
Date: 11/9/09

Size: 4.75 gal
Efficiency: 63.26%
Attenuation: 75.0%

Calories: 149.27 kcal per 12.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.045 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 10.86 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 4.41% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 26.2 (0.0 - 100.0)

Ingredients:
5.0 lb Maris Otter
4.0 lb Standard 2-Row
7.0 oz Caramel Malt 60L
0.3 oz Warrior (15.4%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 oz Tettnanger (4.3%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 tbsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
0.25 oz Cascade (8.7%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1098 British Ale
3.3 lb Apricot (pureed) - added dry to secondary fermenter

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 66.0 °F
Source Water: 65.0 °F
Elevation: 57.91 m
00:13:36 Mash In - Liquor: 2.95 gal; Strike: 164.6 °F; Target: 152.0 °F 01:13:36
Sac Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 149.4 °F 01:14:36
Mash Out - Water: 2.0 gal; Temperature: 205.0 °F; Target: 170.0 °F 01:29:36
Batch Sparge: 1. gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 15.0 min;
Total Runoff: 4.96 gal

Notes: Original recipe found in Brew Your Own Magazine Classic Recipes edition Basing this recipe on Style 8B Special/Best/Premium Bitter using 53% English malts and 42% US 2-Row malt along with British Ale yeast Also using American hops for the bitteness and aroma. Using Noble hops for flavor. The percentages won't fight with the apricot. This recipe has lower amounts of bitterness (19.5 IBU) than the amounts prescribed by 8C, which starts at 30 IBU min.

Boil
▪ Begin and boil 5 gallons of wort for 90 min
▪ Add Warrior hops and boil for 60 min.
▪ Add Tettnang hops for the final 15 min.
▪ Add Irish moss with 15 min.
▪ At the end of the boil, add Cascade hops and remove from heat.
▪ Cool wort to about 72˚F (22°C) and transfer to fermenting vessel.
▪ Aerate wort and pitch yeast.
▪ Ferment at 75˚F (24 °C) for three to five days.
▪ Transfer to a secondary vessel.
▪ Add 3.3 Ibs. (one can) of apricot puree or 3 ounces of liquid apricot flavoring for approximately five days. (Adjust the amount of apricot to taste in subsequent batches.)
▪ Prime with 97.41 g of corn sugar at 68˚ beer temperature for 2.2 vol of CO2.

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

Tongue Splitter is in the Bottle

2009-10-25T14:51:00.005-04:00

I actually took some time while watching the Patriots versus the Buccaneers game in London to bottle the Tongue Splitter American Pale Ale. I got the TV in the cellar on and set the channel to CBS. I began the prep work of cleaning the bottles and bottling equipment with OxiClean® followed by a sanitation with B-T-F Iodopher®. While the OxiClean was out I also put a load of laundry in the washer, afterwhich I got down to the work.

I took a taste of the pre-carbonated beer while checking the specific gravity. The hops have mellowed a bit but the beer still has good hops flavor along with a full malt character. There's been no oxidation at all.

The 5 gallon batch filled my 2L. growler and 6, 12oz six-packs plus 2, 12 oz. bottles.

I've been using OxiClean recently to clean my equipment because it's cheaper in bulk at Sam's Club than other alkaline or oxygen cleaners are in homebrew stores. It also rinses very cleanly and quickly. Of the sanitizers, Bleach is the cheapest, but you can ruin your clothes and you have to rinse it well so that you don't taste it in the beer. Once you rinse out the bleach, you then run the risk of less protection. The B-T-F does not have to be rinsed, remaining on the equipment to protect. It leaves no taste or after effects. The little bottle (if you use 3 cc/gal.) makes 40 gallons of sanitizing solution.

The 2009 Hop Harvest and Fall Brewing

2009-10-10T21:00:00.001-04:00

The weather has turned a bit cooler now and the Cascade hops were ready to be picked. I ventured out last week and I harvested the hops on the bottom of the bine first and placed them in the basket. After which, I undid the purchase line from the cleat and lowered the carriage of the hop pole for the first time and I picked the cones at the top of the bine without having to climb a ladder.

I harvested almost about an ounce of Cascade hops, which really isn't enough hops to brew one five gallon batch of beer. Home grown hops usually doesn't have the IBU that a commercially grown hops would have. There is still a nice aroma from these homegrown hops though. We'll see about the amount of flavor is in each hop cone when I use them.

After picking the cones, I decided to leave the bine on the strings so that there were some greens still hanging. I hoisted the carriage back up to display the leaves. Well today the leaves were turning brown so after I cut the lawn, I lowered the carriage again and cut the twine and bines from the pipe arms and tossed the lot into the compost bin, hopefully to amend the soil for a future hop growing season. I added a bit more of the commercial compost I had on hand on top of each hop rhizome because I could see the Cascade rhizome poking out of the ground. I also need to place a couple of markers into the ground next to each hop so I know where they are under the mulch that' will go on top of each in the next couple of weeks. when that mulch goes down, the hop season will be over.

Over the winter I will be removing any rust and repainting the flanges and the pipe arms in prep for season '10. I'd also like to add one more pipe arm and another rhizome of hops next year. Who knows? Either Hallertau, Cascade or another variety. What's your bet?

I'm looking at brewing a clone of Magic Hat's #9 in the next few weeks. This clone beer be an all-grain batch, which will have a single stage mash at 152˚F. I'll use a grain bill of 5 pounds of Maris Otter malt, 4 pounds of 2 Row malt and a bit of 60˚L Caramel malt for color for an hour long mash. The Maris Otter will provide a pleasant bready taste. I'll use Warrior hops for a strong bite of bitterness that will contrast the sweetness of the apricot, which will be added in the secondary fermenter. This will probably start another smaller fermentation of the fruit sugars. #9 is one of the first craft micro-brew that I ever had and is still one of my favorite craft beers.

I'm also looking to brew a pre-prohibition pilsner with a west coast lager yeast for the warmer temperature of the fall season. This beer is the precursor to today's American lagers, but with more flavor. More like Sam Adams Boston Lager than like Miller High Life. This beer style became defunct when a) the breweries emerged from prohibition, needing to lower the costs of brewing after the depression, b) from alienation of the German brewing tradition after both World Wars. I'll utilize 7-1/2 pounds of 6-Row base malt, a bit of Cara-Pils® malt and 1-3/4 pounds of flaked corn in the grain bill to give that American full flavor but not much of the lightness of today's American lagers. Also I will use an original American variety of hops, Cluster for medium bittering, flavor and then added dry in the secondary for a brighter taste and aroma. Since I'm using 6-Row malt, which is not as well modified as 2-Row, I'm going with a three step mash: protein rest at 122˚F and an Alpha and Beta Saccharification rest at 140˚ and 152˚F. Since the flaked corn is well modified and pre-gelatinized, it does not need a protein rest and I'll add it just before the Alpha infusion. I hope that this will have a real great taste and bring a piece of history to my appreciation.

Festival of Ale Recap

2009-09-21T10:09:00.018-04:00

Two weekends ago my wife Jen, her cousins Jeff, Chris and I went to the Fall Festival of Ale at the Higgins Armory in Worcester. The last time I went to the festival there were more brewers present. Especially down stairs on the second floor. Now there seemed to be more festival goers at the event.

There was quite a line around the building to check in at 6:00 PM. Jeff, Chris and I had preregistered online for $35.00. Jen decided to join us that afternoon so she got a $5.00 "Designated Driver" ticket at the door. Once we were in we climbed to the third floor and began our tastings. We started to our right and of course that was backwards from how the plan in the program was laid out. My plan was to have the Oktoberfest and harvest beers with additional styles interspersed to keep the pallet fresh.

Magic Hat Brewery didn't have a beer in my scope of tasting, so I tried the Roxy Rolles, which is the brewery's Autumnal fare, so it fit fairly well as a harvest ale. I look forward to brewing a #9 clone in a week or two. That apricot flavor is great in the fall. I might blend a few bottles making 3/4 #9 clone with 1/4 of last years Strumpkin to make a nutmegy-appricoty beer. Hmm?

Next in the go round was Shipyard. I've had their Pumpkin Head, which is nicely spiced, but too light – more like a pumpkin soda – so I tasted the Fuggles IPA. This was nicely hopped.

As we came around the corner next was Long Trail Brewing from Vermont. There I wanted to get away from the hops and I tried their Harvest Ale. It was nicely malty with a bit of wheat in the taste. I also tried the Imperial Porter which had a nice chocolate aroma and a good amount of hops in the flavor. It sported a grand medium brown head with some good head retention.

I had never heard of Pennichuck Brewing Company who was next in line. We all wanted to try The Big O (Oktoberfest style) but they didn't have it available so we tried the Saint Florian Dopplebock. This was smooth rich beer. Plenty of malt and Noble hop flavor. A good balance to this stronger brew with great mouthfeel. Good work Pennichuck! Their website seemed to be having some information missing while I was trying to find out more about them.

John Harvard's Brew House followed. They are located in Shoppers World, One Worcester Road, Framingham, MA. They are a chain of brew pubs under Boston Culinary Group in Cambridge, MA. There have three pubs in Massachusetts, Cambridge, Framingham and at Jimminy Peak in Hancock, in the Berkshires as well as other pubs in Providence, RI, Manchester, CT and Lake Grove, LI, NY. From them I tired their Harvest Spice (which is not found on their website.) this was good dry beer with good spice.

After John Howard's was my friend Robert Chasse from the Homebrew Emporium. Bruce was not there when we came around. He has samples of a kegged mead and I wanted to go back to try the Strawberry Rhubarb home brew he had made, but there wasn't time to get there by the end of the fest. The kegged mead wasn't up to par. It had an off taste which I didn't care for at all.

Next was Dr. Gonzo's Uncommon Condiments who did not have beer, but some rather tasty mustards to taste. They accented the beer we had very well. Not too hot, not too spicy. The Honey mustard was great on the pretzels. I'd rather dip my pretzels than have them pre flavored.

At the cauld de sac was Wachusett Brewery where I tasted the Oktoberfest and the Ryde. The Ryde had a barnyardish scent from the yeast and a distinct Rye flavor in the malt. Rye finishes nice and dry. The Oktoberfest was just okay. Not much to write about. At Harpoon's table I sampled the Leviathan Saison Royale. Is it Royale instead of Imperial? No. The hop profile seems close to the standard style. Where the Royale comes from is the hearty 9% avb of the beer. Great Saison flavor and texture with the hint of barn mustiness and an aroma of Nobel hops.

Onto Blue Hills Brewery, which is down on Rt. 138 south of 128 in Canton, MA. Their Oktoberfest was malty and dry. An okay tasting beer.

Lastly on the third floor was Redhook/Sherwood Forest. I tasted Sherwood Forest's Maiden's Blueberry. It was okay but the aroma and the tastes were a bit blueberry flavored. It's not too sweet and it's not too dry. There is a bit of hop spiciness to the ale. It was noce to have a fruity cahnge of pace as we finished the floor round.

Onto the lower floor. In years past this floor has been quite crammed with tables. It was nice t have more room for people this year. I didn't have any of the Boston Beer Company's samples since I have tried all they brought this time. I would have liked to try the Sam Adams Patriot Brewing Contest Winner since you'll never see me near Gillet Stadium. Come on Jim, give us something we haven't tasted before.

Walking clockwise was the Gardiner Ale House. Jen and I like to go to the Ale House to have brunch every other month or so. We told Jeff that he would like it there because it's not too expensive and there is a good carving station as well as the other breakfast fare, but la carne es muy importante para Jeff. I tried the XSB (Xtra Special Bitter) which I had never tasted at the Ale House. It was excellent. Great maltiness and hop aroma and tastes. I had a nice chat with one of the brewers and told him how much we liked the Ale House and the beer.

On further was Honest Town Brewery in Southbridge. They're down the hill from The Vienna. I tried their SOB (Southbridge Ordinary Beer) or in Southbridgeese that would be "Drink me up the good beer." This stuff was pretty smooth. Easy drinking. I chatted with the lady of the brewery for a while. She told me that they have a performance space as well a tavern. All of the spaces and taverns can be found on the 12 Crane site.

At the end of the room was Leinenkugels Brewery. The lovely lady behind the table poured me a Sunset Wheat. Very delicious beer. At the first sip I said, "Coriander?" she said, "You're the first person to notice and say so." I was proud of the pallet at that point. I told her that I had enjoyed the Summer Shandy at my father-in-law's house one hot August night. That's a great beer too. Try it of you like light wheat beers and lemon.

Now we tour around to Waltham's Watch City Brewery. Jen and I have eaten at Watch City with friends Alicia and Ezra. We had a pretty good meal there and I had the tasting sampler which ran the gamut from smooth to caliente, sweet to bitter, light to rich. Now Watch City was at the Festival. they brought with them Beejezus - A Hop Crisis BPA. This ale has no hops but different spices that present a tea like flavor. This beer took 1st Place Fruit & Spice Beer category - Beejezus Hop Crisis BPA - 2008 Great Northeast International Beer & Cider Competition. Then we tried the Pie-Eyed Pumpkin. This was the best pumpkin beer of the day. Perfect blend of pumpkin pie spice and sweet pumpkin flavor. Then the brewer brought out Lil' Jack Horner's Plum Suckin' Wit. He said that there was 50 pounds of plumbs that went into the batch. This was a super flavored wit beer with all of the usual wit flavor plus the sweetness of plums.

To finish off the Festival, we stopped at Berkshire Brewing's table. They listed four beers on the program and I wanted to try the Nitro Coffee Porter, but they only had two: Steel Rail and the Raspberry Barleywine. I've had Steel Rail on tap at many a restaurant, so I thought the Barleywine would be the best for the end and I was right. This was a full flavored barleywine. this was a full flavored raspberry beer which would be perfect for sipping after dinner or around the fire. Good full flavor with not a lot of hops and that great barleywine feeling.

This fall there were also two 20 minute seminars offered by Matt Webster, the Supreme Chancellor of Beer. Matt takes the plunge into the world of pairing beer with cheese in the first seminar and the in the second he showed, along with Executive Pastry Chef, Alina Eisenhauer of SWEET, how craft beer is the perfect complement to chocolate. The four of us didn't get the opportunity to hear the seminars since the line to get in was long and there was too much beer to taste. Hey Matt, you should join the Cicerone program to enhance the title.

That wraps up the Fall Festival of Beer. Jen and I departed the Higgins to go to hear a band a Nick's. Jen took the wheel of the car so that I could enjoy myself at the Festival. I later took the wheel for the drive home from Nick's so that Jen could have a few French 75's there. Chris and Jeff remained at the Sam Adams table for more tastings. I assume that they both got home okay!

Tuesday Tastings 08/25/09

2009-08-27T00:34:00.006-04:00

I popped open a chilled Smythick's Irish Red Ale the other day to taste it's progress. But first I want to tell you that I picked about 1/2 ounce of Hallertau hops on Wednesday. I was amazed at the new bines. They seem to be growing again and I wonder if I will get another crop. I trimmed away the old bine from which I harvested the crop-ett and redirected the new bines up the string. The new ones are much bushier with leaves and seem to be growing well. I will give them some water tomorrow morning since we won't get any rain until TS Danny, or soon to be Hurricane Danny, on Saturday. After bringing the hop cones in, I trimmed the short stems off and put them in a Zip-loc® bag, pressed the air out of the bag, zipped the bag up and shoved the bag into the freezer.

The Cascades hops cones are also plumping out and the bines continue to grow up to about 8-9 feet high. I see harvesting the first Cascades in about 10-12 days.

Now back to the Smythick's. There is a light fruity scent, mostly from the small East Kent Goldings hop addition. There is a moderate malt aroma present that gives the effect of toffee. This is a requisite of the English Maris Otter malt. There's a clean and coppery red color with a nice off-white head from the Caramel 60L and CaraRed malts.

The Smythick's is a very simple beer. One can taste a slightly malty toffee grain flavor. There doesn't seem to be notes of anything else. There is only the slightest hops notes that are presented in a fruitiness. There is no overt diacetyl flavor at all from the Irish Ale yeast. The yeast cake at the bottom of the two week primary fermentation has done it's job well by reabsorbing this buttery flavor. There might be some diacetyl which makes the flavor more toffee than caramel like. There is a very light entertaining bitterness on the back of the tongue.

The perfect carbonation gives a great mouthfeel to this Red and even though this is a young beer it finishes clean and smooth. It's not to sweet or to dry: right in the middle. There seems to be a nice alcohol level to this beer, but no alcohol warmth on the tongue. It's a 5.17% ABV with a 22.7 IBU's.

I'm ready to drink and share this beer with the Smyths and woods at the Labor Day get-together. My dad will get some around Thanksgiving. I'm sorry he has to wait, but the beer will be more mellow in November.

Tongue Splitter

2009-08-03T08:26:00.012-04:00

This past Saturday I brewed an all-grain beer kit called Tongue Splitter. An all-grain kits includes all of the base malt and specialty malt grains ground to grist, hops, adjuncts and yeast packaged up ready to mash, boil and ferment with complete instructions. Extract brewing kits have same adjuncts, specialty malts, hops and instructions, but the base malts are in either a liquid malt extract (LME) and/or dry malt extract (DME) form. There is no need for a mash. The extracts are the base malt grain's carbohydrates converted into fermentable sugars at the malting factory and then the mash is concentrated into either LME or DME. With the extract, all one has to do is heat an amount of water to a described temperature and add the extract and you have your wort to boil. One would add specialty grains and the hops according to the brewer's schedule. An all-grain kit has to be mashed to convert the carbohydrates into sugars, and after the mash, the vorlauf, lautering and sparging, which does take additional time to produce.

This all-grain kit makes it pretty convenient to mash and brew. On the LHBS (local homebrew supply) website, there are compete instructions and an .REC file so I can import this file to my "Beer Tools Pro" software, which is the software that produces the written recipe below. The LHBS I purchased from uses "Promash" another brewing software for Windows. "Beer Tools Pro" is a Mac/Windows app.

Tongue Splitter is an American pale ale (APA), which has evolved from a nontraditional offshoot of English pale ales into a style all its own. Normally an APA is not highly hopped. This kit is more aggressively hopped. Some might think it's an IPA (India Pale Ale), but IPAs are dryer and heavily hopped. this hopping was to preserve the beer for long journeys from England to India. Heavily hopped APAs are there for the aggressive hop flavor only.

Most of you I'm not a "hop head" but I need to be making all kinds of beer. A hop head has two urban definitions: one being a drug addict; the second is one who enjoys highly hopped beer. I'm neither, but I want to experience the later and I will inhale or gulp as the case may be. There may be four categories of hop heads...

Lovers of excessive hop aroma
Lovers of excessive hop flavor
Lovers of excessive hop bitterness
Lovers of excessive all of the above

I expect from the hops in the the kit and the time at each one is added that this beer will be #4.

I'm looking at using a devil and angel on the label with the sub title An Angelic Malt with Devilish Hops. Tongue Splitter is a derivative of "forked tongue." Some sources tell of "mythologies where a demon is portrayed to have a forked tongue, and more likely to lie than tell the truth. Therefore, someone believed to be lying is akin to the devil." Other sources say "Intent to mislead or deceive." And others call say, "Say one thing but means another." A dichotomy like the pot actually calling the kettle black! This made me think of an angel and a devil – the malt and the hops.

Currently there is good fermentation going on. Since the basement is warming up to 70-72˚F and that fermentation creates some warmth, I've employed the evaporation method of cooling. As water is drawn up the towel (wick) covering the top of the fermenter, it evaporates and cools the wort a bit to get the temperature of the wort down to 68˚F, which is where the Pacific Ale WLP041 wants to be to best ferment.

Tongue Splitter
10-A American Pale Ale
Author: Northern Brewer
Date: 8/1/09

Size: 5.0 gal
Efficiency: 64.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 149.27 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.045 (1.045 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.010 - 1.015)
Color: 6.82 (5.0 - 14.0)
Alcohol: 4.41% (4.5% - 6.2%)
Bitterness: 71.8 (30.0 - 45.0)

Ingredients:
9.0 lb Pale Malt(2-row)
0.5 lb Caramel Pils Malt
0.5 lb Caramalt
1.15 oz Nugget (11.2%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 oz Glacier (6.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 oz Sterling (7%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
0.5 oz Cascade (7.5%) - added during boil, boiled 2.0 min
0.5 oz Sterling (7%) - added during boil, boiled 2.0 min
1.0 ea White Labs WLP041 Pacific Ale
0.5 oz Cascade (7.5%) - added dry to primary fermenter
0.5 oz Sterling (7%) - added dry to primary fermenter

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 82.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 190.0 m

00:20:58 Mash In - Liquor: 3.12 gal; Strike: 165.76 °F; Target: 153.0 °F
01:20:58 Sacch Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 153.0 °F
01:22:58 Mash Out Infusion - Water: 1.5 gal; Temperature: 170.0 °F; Target: 158.0 °F
01:52:58 Mash Out Rest - Rest: 30.0 min; Final: 155.6 °F
02:07:58 Sparge - Sparge #1: 2.0 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 15.0 min; Total Runoff: 5.56 gal

Notes:
Tongue Splitter All Grain Kit
O.G: 1045 / Ready: 6 weeks
This kit is our take on the West Coast Pale Ale; it is similar to our Extra Pale Ale but is more aggressively (some might say insanely) hopped. Engineered to be an alpha-acid delivery vehicle, this kit is sure to please lovers of the humulus lupus.

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

A Weekend in Vienna

2009-08-01T15:00:00.000-04:00

To celebrate my birthday on July 25, Jen treated me to dinner at the Vienna Inn and Restaurant down in Southbridge, MA owned and operated by Jonathan and Lisa Krach. Jen also made it an overnight stay celebrating our wedding anniversary. Despite the Viennese and German ambiance and cuisine, this was not about beer (say it isn't so!), but more about time with my wife.

When we arrived we were escorted to the Blumenzimmer – Flower Room (to the left) – Suite on the first floor by the Maître d'Hotel dressed in Viennese costume. The Inn has four other suites on the second floor plus the proprietor's residence. All of the staff at the Inn were dressed in costume.

After unpacking our bags we the went to the front porch to have our complimentary cocktail and appetizer before dinner. Our server for the evening, Erika, introduced herself and asked us what we wanted to drink. Jen ordered her favorite cocktail, a Sidecar and I had a Hofbräu Munchen Hefeweizen. She told us that the chef would be preparing lamb lollipops for our appetizer. When they arrived they were lamb chops trimmed up the bone so all of the meat was at the larger end. They were so tender and the sauce was light, sweet and sour. We lingered for about an hour on the porch saying, "Hi!" to the other guests arriving. We then left to go back to the room to change for dinner.

At dinner the Maître d' showed us to our table in the larger of the two dining rooms. we were seated in a corner next to the fireplace, which was not lit, and below a portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph. While thinking about what we might be eating, I ordered a bottle of Mosel Piesporter considering that the sweetness of the wine will compliment both of our dishes. First we had appetizers of fried Camembert cheese and a Viennese meat filled dumpling. Also served on the table was a plate of sliced ham, cheese, Viennese meats in aspic, some pickled beets/onions and crackers. After having our Primo, Jen ordered (to the right) a Epinard of Poulet, which was a Cordon Blue like chicken stuffed with Assiago cheese, herbs and greens yet without the ham. A light, bright Bearnaise sauce was laid on top. Her dish was sweet, tart and buttery. I ordered a Jäger Schnitzel (to the left), which was a breaded veal scallopini topped with an earthy "hunter" sauce which had about twenty or so, button mushrooms, onions and julienne carrots. The sweeter Piesporter wine counterpointed the dry earthiness of my plate and supported the bright tartness of Jen's dish.

An hour or two-and-a-half later Erika came by to asked what we might like for dessert. Jen was a bit tired after dinner and asked Erika if we could retire to our room for a break and return for dessert later. Erika said that that was certainly fine and suggested that we go to the patio for coffee and pastries.

It was really nice to step away and take a break in our room. We listened to some Mozart "Eine Kleine..." and put our feet up for about an hour under the lights on the branch on our ceiling (below right). We made our way to the patio for coffee and dessert. Jen wanted the Black Forest cake, but when we returned it was gone for the evening so she ordered the white chocolate raspberry cake and I had a hazelnut torte. Accompanying dessert we both had a Viennese coffee with a beautiful sweet whipped cream on top. I topped off the post-repast with a snifter or blackberry schnapps straight up. That curled my nose hairs, or was it my toe nails. The porch (below left) was a nicely secluded area, encircled with a masonry wall almost three feet high. Above that was a wooden fence which was about five feet high. In the center of the longest section of wall was a brick fireplace, with a delightful fire raging. This fire helped to keep the mosquitoes away. At the top of the wall all the way around was a bittersweet like vine and little twinkle lights. The twinkle lights and the Deutsch chanteuse singing in the background via CD added a lot of romance to the starry night.

We chatted with the other guests having their meals outside. We relayed our story of earlier in the day to the guests...

We planned on bringing Jonathan and Lisa a home brew, so I selected the Peache Saison Été. I put the bottle in the cup holder on the dash. All of a sudden, a burst of gas pushed the gasket out and made a loud, sharp whoosh, scaring Jen to death. I asked Jen to pull over so I could take care of the expanding gas. Alas all that was left in the the beer bottle was about 4 fl. oz. I forgot that the beer was stored at 68˚in the basement. The temperature in the car was about 78˚ even with the A/C on and the vibration of the car shook up the warmed beer releasing the gas built up inside. The gasket and flip top could no longer hold the pressure so she blew! See I got a good beer story in. The guests we were taking with were sad to hear the tale.

After the delicious dessert, sad stories and burgeoning bugs, we retired to the front porch to finish our coffee and to take care of the bill. We thanked Erika for her wonderful service and we bid the restaurant goodnight. The entire staff was so well prepared and superb at their jobs. We both were very gemütlich.

We went back to the room and turned down the bed, putting the down comforter and the other fluffy pillows in the closet.

The next morning we awoke watched a bit of Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, as is our constitution, and went to the dining room for breakfast. We ate in the other dining room from the previous night. Breakfast was served: Coffee, grapefruit juice, two eggs (in my case poached medium and Jen had scrambled) a 4 oz. steak, two slices of toast from different breads, Lingonberry jam (a Swedish delight) and orange marmalade and Parmesan potatoes. While we ate we had great conversation with Lisa the owner and enjoyed the company of their dog Skeeter. after about an hour of eating, chatting and a couple more cups of coffee we headed out to the porch to finish that last cup. Lisa told us that there was no one in our room later so there was no rush to leave. We appreciated that gesture so we sat and contemplated not going home at all.

We finally decided to go home. We packed our bags and brought them to the car. I presented Lisa and Jonathan with the label from the expired Saison, since they didn't get to taste the beer. Next time I'll chill the beer better and pack it into a cooler. The cool will keep the carbonation down and the container will keep the warmed expanding gas from exploding the bottle. I look forward to returning to the Vienna in the winter so we can sit and read a book in the parlor next to the fireplace and have a beer next to the fireplace outside on the patio as well as a fine meal served by the attentive staff.

That winter moment can't come soon enough now! As it says over the porch when you exit, the translation is:

"Live well, love much, laugh often"

A gallery of all our photos from our stay are posted at my Photo Gallery
or a few images are posted on my Facebook gallery.

Degassing Bottle Bombs

2009-07-18T14:05:00.008-04:00

I was just cleaning bottles in the basement and I decided that I needed the 20 oz. bottles of the over carbonated Sweet Chocolate Stout. These are dangerous glass bottles of extra-carbonated beer. I moved them from the storage box very carefully to the sink to be opened. When the crown cap was released in the sink the beer came spraying from the bottle. I'd use my bottle opener and keep my hand over the top to direct the outward spray down towards the drain. I'd only open the cap just a hair to release the CO2, but not too much beer. There was some beer left in each bottle, so I poured the stout int a cup and tasted it. Why not? It's just over carbonated, now set free. I also salvaged the rest of the beer into a couple of PET bottles and jolted them up with a bit of 20 psi CO2 to keep some fizz.

The stout still had a beautiful brown silky head. There's a ton of chocolate flavor in the stout and a whopper of coffee aroma still evident. The mouth feel is still round and full, but now it's safe to drink!

I was also cleaning out the Jenny's Blues keg so I could put the Wit beer (now named Orange Moon Witté, see future article) into it. I also put some of that beer into a plastic bottle for the future too. After having a glass of Jenny's Blues and Sweet Chocolate Stout, I've slowed down a bit. Fewer bottles are getting cleaned.

Blue Agave Wheat

2009-07-15T23:30:00.000-04:00

Several weeks ago I was wondering what would be a good beer for August: the "dog days of summer." I also wanted to have something special and exotic to drink, so I concocted a light, lower alcohol recipe with an exotic twist. I wanted something that would give a south of the border feel – I thought of agave nectar to provide a tequila like taste.

I did some research on agave nectar. I learned that:
a) it's four times as sweet as granulated sugar
b) it's one-quarter of the calories of granulated sugar
c) it can be used instead of granulated sugar in any instance
d) it is completely fermentable
e) it's absorbed by the body slowly, so there are no spikes in blood sugar, which makes it perfect for diabetics.
f) it does not taste at all like tequila.
g) it's not blue at all.

This nectar will give some light molasses characteristics, which is one basic flavors of tequila and I'll add some lime and a bit of salty flavor in the secondary fermentation to hopefully achieve the Chelada sytle found in Mexico. Since it's warm out and I don't have lager refrigeration facilities, I used the WLP029 Kölsch ale yeast which will allow a dryer clean finish lager like fermentation and I can ferment at around 68˚F.

The other evening I brewed the extract Blue Agave Wheat beer using 6 pounds of 50/50 wheat and barley malt, vanguard hops, chamomile and the agave nectar.

Agave Wheat
6-D American Wheat or Rye Beer
Author: Steve Espach
Date: 7/14/09

Size: 5.5 gal
Efficiency: 75%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 148.88 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.045 (1.040 - 1.055)
Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.008 - 1.013)
Color: 4.39 (3.0 - 6.0)
Alcohol: 4.4% (4.0% - 5.5%)
Bitterness: 21.9 (15.0 - 30.0)

Ingredients:
6.0 lb CBW® Bavarian Wheat Liquid (Malt Extract)
666 g Agave Nectar (Amber) (23.5 oz.)
1.0 oz Vanguard (4.6%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 tbsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 oz Vanguard (4.6%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
6.0 ea Chamomile - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1 ea White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kölsch
6.0 fl oz Lime juice
Salt to taste?

Notes:
Wholesome Sweeteners Organic raw Blue Agave Nectar

Organic raw Agave is a natural sweetener extracted from the heart of the age plant. It is produced at a low temperature and has a full sweet flavor with subtle molasses tones. Agave is a low glycemic index (GI) sweetener, so it is absorbed slowly into the body preventing spikes in blood sugar. Use wherever you would use table sugar.

Method:
Boil 3 gal water
When at boiling

Add LME
Add Agave nectar

When kettle is back to a boil

Add 1 oz of the Vanaurd [bittering] hops
Set timer at 60 min.

@ 15 min.

Add Irish moss

@ 10 min.

Add 1 oz. of Vangaurd [flavor] hops
Add 6 chamomile teabags

@ 0 min.

Flame out

Cool
Strain to fermenter

Initial Gravity post boil 1.083

Add water to total 5.5 gal. in fermenter

Initial Gravity 1.045

Pitch WLP029 Kölsch yeast Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

Tuesday Tastings 07/14/09.

2009-07-14T10:35:00.008-04:00

Happy Bastille Day. I celebrate France with a Bier de Mars, If I only had one available to me.

Today I tasted the Alte Straße. Unser Bester Alter Hund. It's been bottle conditioning for three weeks now. This beer is a Düsseldorf Altbier, category 7C of the BJCP Style guidelines. Click on the previous link to view the guidelines of the specifics of this style of beer.

The beer started with a gravity of 1.054 and finished with a gravity of 1.015. This produced an attenuation of 72.2% and 5.12% ABV. There are 19.88 g of carbs, 1.39 g of protein and 181 calories for each 12 fl. oz. serving.

Popping open this beer, pouring and swirling the beer in my goblet presents a nice steady very light tan head, which offers an aggressive aroma of hearty malt, followed by a decidedly floral aroma of Noble hops. Looking through the glass the bronze color is reasonably clear and clean.

I took a sip and there is a complex flavor: some caramel, a full amount of malt and some hop floral flavor with a bit of bitterness. I found a bit of sulfur from the yeast, but it's balanced with the other flavors so it's not that noticeable. This beer really has full, round and smooth mouthfeel with a bit of alcohol warmth and it has a medium dry finish. The complexity is the sweetness of the aroma and flavor then the dry finish make this a tempting beer.

Because of the strength and fullness in mouthfeel will be better appreciated in the fall when the weather cools off. Yet how cool has it been so far this summer. So when the temperature drops and the blood starts to thicken, this beer will come out again and we'll taste again.

Not Your Ordinary 4th of July Beer

2009-07-07T17:30:00.000-04:00

What a busy weekend the 4th of July was. We also got 56 hours of straight rain free weather starting on the 4th. Thursday, July 2nd we were scheduled to have our 1st Anniversary party and Worcester fireworks show, but it rained that night so we moved our party to Friday, July 3rd, which is actually our anniversary. The party went on Friday night – unfortunately the fireworks were canceled and the party was rained on and it was moved inside - except for the BBQ cooking part. On Saturday the weather cleared and since my dad was visiting for the party, I deputized him as associate brewer.

On the docket was an Irish Red Ale. The original name for the beer is Better Red than Dead. (credit for the original recipe is at the bottom of the page) I didn't care much for the name. It's a little to too communistic. Beer needs to be non-poli-sci. Retro back to the anniversary party on Friday night: Jen's aunt, uncle and cousins were there and their last name is Smyth, just like Smith, but with a Y not an I. Jeff, Jen's oldest cousin loves Smithwicks Ale (pronounced like smidthicks). What a great play on a name! Remove the Smith and add the Smyth. Then drop the w and add icks. It's perfect for an Irish Red.

Smithwicks is brewed by Guinness at St. Francis Abbey Brewery in Kilkenny, Ireland.

My dad and I went about the mashing process. When the mash was done I began to vorlauf. The lauter was flowing smoothly. Then all of a sudden it stuck. Good thing I had my deputy with me. I must have ground the rain into grist too fine and the flour portion stuck it all up. I got the straining bag and placed it into the kettle and then the two of us poured the grain and wort into the brew kettle. I pulled the straining bag out leaving the wort in the kettle and put the grain bag full of grain back into the mash tun, added the sparge liquor for the batch sparge and let that rest for 30 minutes. When that was done the second running ran perfectly well with the grain bag in place. Ahh smooooth sparging.

This is the first time my dad joined me in a brewing session. Most of the time there's not much to do. Boil, sit and wait. So we enjoyed a few glasses of beer, the warm sun and the brotherhood of brewing! In the photo to the right, my dad is stirring the wort while I pour in the 2 pounds of light DME during the boil. Jen took the photo.

Below is the recipe and method for the beer.

Smythick's Irish Red Ale
9-D Irish Red Ale
Author: Steve Espach
Date: 7/4/09

Size: 5.5 gal
Efficiency: 68.77%
Attenuation: 75.0% Calories: 157.83 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.048 (1.044 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.010 - 1.014)
Color: 14.53 (9.0 - 18.0)
Alcohol: 4.67% (4.0% - 6.0%)
Bitterness: 22.7 (17.0 - 28.0)

Ingredients:
5.07 lb Maris Otter
1.18 lb Munich Malt
12.0 oz Caramel Malt 60L
1.0 oz Black Roasted Barley
8.0 oz German CaraRed
2.0 lb Dry Extra Light Extract
1.0 oz Fuggle (5.7%) - added during boil, boiled 45 min
1.0 oz East Kent Goldings (4.2%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 ea White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale yeast

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 82.0 °F
Source Water: 68 °F
Elevation: 190 ft

00:20:34 Mash In - Liquor: 2.36 gal; Strike: 168.29 °F; Target: 153.0 °F
01:20:34 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 148.8 °F
02:09:34 Sparge - Vorlauf: 0.0 gal sparge @ 156.0 °F, 8.0 min;
Batch Sparge Infusion: 2.0 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 3.0 min;
Batch Sparge: 0.0 gal sparge @ 165.0 °F, 30.0 min;
Vorlauf: 0.0 gal sparge @ 160.0 °F, 8.0 min;
Total Runoff: 3.34 gal

Notes:
This recipe is based on Mark Pasquinelli's recipe & article in Zymurgy Magazine, Vol 32, #2, Mar/Apr 2009.
This beer goes straight 2 week primary fermentation to erase the diacetyl from the beer by the yeast. good flocculation helps to reduce the diacetyl.
Fermentation must also be no warmer than the upper 60's.

Mashed as per schedule except...
• Had a problem with the first runnings. The grist was too fine and it clogged the false bottom.
• The mash was poured form the mash tun though a strainging bag into the kettle.
• The mash in the straining bag was returned to the mash tun.
• The sparge water was added and rested for 30 min.
• The second running flowed from the mash tun easily this time and were added to the kettle. Boil in kettle
• After adding the second running to the kettle there were at least 3 gal of wort to boil.

Boil
• Started time at 60 min.
• Add 2# of light DME
• At 45 min.
• Add 1 oz. Fuggles [bittering] hops
• At 15 min.
• Add 1 oz. EKG [flavor] hops
• At 0 min.
• Flameout
• Put 1.5 gal of cool water into fermenter
• Poured wort into fermenter
• Topped fermenter to 5.5 gal.
• Let wort cool - O.G. of wort at 1.048 - Pitched WLP004 - Agitated to aeration
• Set airlock and left in basement at 68˚F where the Red will ferment Let ferment two weeks in primary.

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

Tuesday Tastings 06/23/09

2009-06-22T20:00:00.001-04:00

I took the opportunity to taste the Clocktoberfest to see how the maturation process was going. The beer is in category 3B of the BJCP guidelines. I made a few changes to the recipe so that it technically doesn't fit the style any longer. Firstly, I used an ale yeast rather than a lager yeast. This is due to the fact that I waited till the eleventh hour to brew the beer and the temperatures in the cellar rose above lagering parameters. So I had to use an ale yeast, which would attenuate better at 65-69°F. Secondly, the malt level in the boil was smaller than I expected which made the original gravity of the beer below the guidelines. An Oktoberfest should be higher level of alcohol because it is a festival beer – not an ordinary beer.

The alcohol by volume of the beer is 3.6% and it should be between 4.8 and 5.7%. the initial specific gravity should be in the range of 1.050-1.056 and it was measured at 1.040, but the final gravity of the beer was just within the low end of the guidelines at 1.012.

The Clocktoberfest has a clean looking amber brown color and a nice head. You can see that in the image to the right. After the head diminishes there is still a fine layer on top of the beer in the glass. There is good carbonation in this beer now. Bubbles keeps rising in the glass well after pouring. There is a rich malt aroma with little hop to it at all. There is no fruitiness or caramel flavors at all.

Despite the lower initial gravity, the beer boasts a big toasty sweet malt flavor that finishes a bit drier. The hop flavor is minor to the malt in this case. The beer is soft, smooth and rich. Because this beer was made with an Dusseldorf ale yeast WLP036, the beer doesn't finish as cleanly as if it were fermented with a lager yeast. As this beer matures it promises to mellow well in the bottle and be delicious for the Oktoberfest this year. I'll probably have another tasting in about two weeks to check progress.

Before cleaning out the primary fermenter from this beer, I harvested, rinsed and stored some of the WLP036 yeast. We'll see how keeping that goes. I wish you cloud freeze the yeast, but you can't. Their little one celled walls would just blow up when they froze. I certainly don't have the facilities to dry it either. I can only keep the harvested yeast for a month in the fridge and when it turns the color of peanut butter, it's toast. I probably won't get to brew anything in the same style with in the month. So the exercise is really just exercise.

Saturday's Simple Grillin'

2009-06-13T22:00:00.001-04:00

For a brief period of time the sun was out this evening and it was 81˚. It'll rain like hell again later tonight, so Jen and I made the most out of a window of opportunity by gilling 1/3 pound Angus burgers, rosemary marinated red potato planks and Napa cabbage all on the grill - served with sweet cider and sundown later... We hope.

I worked up these sides.

Grill Roasted Red Potatoes (for two)

5 medium red potatoes
1/4 cu. ex virgin olive oil
Palm full of Rosemary
Salt
Pepper

Clean the potatoes and keep the skins on. Slice the potatoes into 3/8" thick slices. Add the spuds to a large bowl and add the oil, rosemary (crunching it into smaller pieces), Salt and pepper. toss the potatoes in the oil to coat and refrigerate for a least an hour. Get the grill hot about 450˚. Cook on the hot side of the grill. Turn the potato slices when brown (about 10 minutes) on one side. Cook another 10 minutes and if all browned move off to the side of the grill to keep warm.

Grilled Napa Cabbage (for two)

1 head Napa cabbage
left over olive oil and spices from potatoes

Cut the cabbage in half. Trim off the green tips which will burn. Save them for stock or the composter. Brush the flat side of the cut cabbage with the left over potato marinade. Place flat side down and cook for minutes on low heat of the grill. Brush the round side of the cabbage with the marinade. Turn every 5 minutes so the lighter green leaves of the cabbage don't burn and brush on more marinde. After 20-25 minutes, move the cabbage to the side of the grille to keep warm as, letting the white part of the cabbage wilt a bit more and get a grill flavor. Keep most of it crunchy!

The spuds cooked to rich golden brown with crisp edges on one side and a darker crust on the other. The cabbage browned on the edges nicely. The grilling develops a sweet taste with the oil.

The burgers were gilled to medium: still plenty of juice and browned nicely. Jen sliced fresh tomato, onion, Romaine lettuce to go on top of the burgers.

We've been making sweet tea by the gallon for the past few weeks and we'll keep that up for the summer. This will keep our levels of high-Fructose corn sugar to a minimum. We added mint, a bit of lemon balm and lemon slices. After I finished my tea, I had a bottle of my sweet cider which has been on the shelf since last fall. It has a great effervescence and quite a potent punch on the alcohol side. It has a uber sweet taste and plenty of apple flavor almost at the point of cloying. I put a lemon in the glass and it give the cider a fresh snap to the aroma and flavor. I just had the final sip now.

I need to bottle the dry cider in a few weeks. What to bottle that in? Several corked clear 375 mL. split bottles I think. This will be a still cider.

As we finished the meal the sun went under and a huge rain cloud came over us. We packed up and moved inside, but no rain yet.

What a great simple meal!

Subject: Proposed Increase of Federal Excise Tax a Serious Threat to Small Brewers and Your Beer Choice

2009-06-13T10:00:00.001-04:00

I wrote a letter to Sen. John Kerry, my Senator here in Massachusetts, who is a member of the Senate Finance Committee the other day letting him know my opposition to the the proposed Excise Tax Option for Health Care Reform Funding. I'm all for health care reform because I can see with my eyes and my wallet what Mr. Kaiser, other subsequent HMO's and Pres. Nixon did to the nation's health care system in 1972: putting profit in front of care. None the less, I am not a proponent of adding another tax to beer in this case one which has an alcohol by volume greater than 4.5% whose alcohol by volume (ABV).

According to the Brewers Association:

Small brewers produce most of the craft brewed beer in the U.S. These are the brewers who produce a majority of beer in the U.S. (not imported) whose ABV is above 4.5%. This group of brewers represents only 4% of the entire U.S. beer market by volume. 95% of them being very small businesses producing 15,000 barrels or less per year. These small business are in fact very aware of the health care crisis costs and employ between 10 and 50 people in their communities.
Proposals to increase and equalize the tax among all types of alcohol will tax small brewers at the highest rates because their specialty, gourmet and innovative beers typically have higher alcohol contents.
Brewers already pay a disproportionately higher share of taxes compared with other products – federal, state and local taxes represent over 40% of the retail price for beer while the same taxes equal nearly 24% of the price for all other purchases.

Apparently the Senate Finance Committee proposes to triple the excise tax on beer over 4.5% alcohol by volume (and higher excise taxes on even higher ABV) in order to raise money to help pay for the reform and to make a "lifestyle choices" statement that alcohol above 4.5% "...should be curbed to promote wellness and healthy choices, and curb activities that increase overall health care costs." That is a quote from page 4 of the Committee's press release on May 18, 2009.

This excise tax also includes any beverage sweetened with sugar, highfructose corn syrup, or other similar sweeteners. The tax would not apply to artificially sweetened beverages. The price of Coke® is going up too!

My first argument is that if 4% of the total beer market, which are Craft brewers and local Brew Pubs. produce the higher ABV beers, what about the other 96%? The largest national brewers produce the lower than 4.5% ABV beers. Isn't that the market portion that everyone is drinking? Wouldn't it be prudent to be curbing the sale of beer which is 96% of the market? Isn't that what most Americans are drinking – or abusing? Isn't that where the health problems due to excessive alcohol consumption and "binging" are compared to the 4? What percent of the 4 are well educated about drinking responsibly, the health dangers of over consumption and/or the consequences of D.U.I. laws compared with the 96?

The second argument I have is if there is a tripled excise tax on beer +4/5% ABV this will (according to the B.A. again) typically cost the consumer at least $1.69 a case due to successive mark-ups as the case moves from brewer to wholesaler to retailer. In fact the higher prices may put small brewers out of business causing a ripple effect down to hop farmers, maltsters, distributors and so on. If such a proposal becomes reality, there is no question that many small mom and pop craft brewery businesses will suffer. Some will close and consumers will face higher prices, diminished choice in the marketplace and the loss of more jobs in their communities.

The question is, do we want only Bud Light®, Miller Lite® and the Silver Bullet® to drink (which are below the 4.5% ABV mark) – or do we want a choice of beer brewed in all their many lager and ale styles, flavors and ABV's as well?

If your interested in reading the Senate Finance Committee's full proposal please click here for the PDF download.
If you wish to write your Senator, please click here to see if he or she is on the committee. Let them know your opinion on the Health Care Reform Option Proposal.

We're also reviewing a proposal by Gov. Patrick here in the Commonwealth for an additional 5% sales tax on alcohol and non-alcohol beverages as a means to help address the revenue shortfall facing the state as the budget process gets under way. Will that go to pay for the "Big Dig" as well?

The Brewers Association is an organization located in Boulder, Colorado, and dedicated to promoting and protecting small and independent American brewers, their craft beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts.

Clocktoberfest is in the Bottle

2009-06-12T16:00:00.001-04:00

Yesterday the Clocktoberfest Oktoberfest style was bottled and stored for lagering and the Alt was racked to the secondary fermenter. Presenting the Clocktoberfest label. Notice the phrase Cervesia et tempus neminem manet "Beer and time wait for no man" with the subtitle "The Eleventh Hour." The beer had a good Oktoberfest taste and scent when it was bottled. The alcohol level was pretty low though. It came out 3.6% ABV and a festival beer is usually a bit more potent for the festive occasion.

The Oktoberfest began when Prince, soon to be King, Ludwig I of Bavaria married Princess Therese on 12 October, 1810. Everyone in Munich was invited to join the festivities on the fields in front of the city gates. The end of the festivities were marked by horse races on the fields and all Bavarian citizens attended. Each year Ludwig I kept the anniversary going, adding more events to the festivities like agriculture exhibits, carousels and small beer stands so visitors could quench their thirsts. In 1896 the small stands grew to tents and later to larger halls set up by breweries. today, the Oktoberfest is the largest festival in the world and starts the third weekend in September and ends the first Sunday of October.

This beer is Category 3B and should be "smooth, clean, and rather rich, with a depth of malt character. This is one of the classic malty styles, with a maltiness that is often described as soft, complex, and elegant." This beer's initial gravity came out a bit low and the ABV is 3.6%. Festival beers are usually higher in alcohol for the celebration.

The Alt Staße was also racked to a secondary fermenter the other day. There will be more to report on that when it is bottled. Other plans are to brew a Wittebier for the hotter summer months next week. It's been a Deutchefest so far this June. I'm also trying a yeast storage experiment as well today from the Düsseldorf yeast of the Altbeir. Via con yeastos.

Calling All Pork-aholics!

2009-06-08T13:18:00.005-04:00

This was a delicious meal last night. We had a pork roast with a maple glaze. The recipe was from "Cooks Illustrated" magazine, #98, May/June 2009. My tweek to the recipe is that it is supposed to be made with pork tenderloins and it is supposed to be roasted in the oven. Instead, we roasted it on the grill and thawed out a three pound roast from the freezer. Here are our ingredients:

3/4 cu. real maple syrup (no processed pancake stuff please)
1/4 cu. molasses
2 tbsp. bourbon or brandy
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Pinch ground clove
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 cu. cornstarch
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. kosher salt
2 tspn. ground black pepper
3 lb. pork roast
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tbsp. whole grain dijon mustard.

Preheat your grill to 375˚F.
In a bowl, stir together 1/2 cu. of the maple syrup (saving 1/4 cu. for later) molasses, bourbon, cinnamon, cloves and cayenne .
In another bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, sugar, salt and pepper. Then pour that mixture into a pan or dish with sides.
With paper towel, pat the pork dry and place it in the pan with the cornstarch mixture and evenly coat the pork with the mixture. (This will feel silky and squeeky on your hands.)
Prepare a baking sheet with a sheet of aluminum foil on it and place a wire rack on top of that. (You'll see!)
Heat a 12" skillet with the canola oil over medium-high heat and when it smokes reduce the heat to medium.
Brown the pork in the skillet on all sides for a total of about 12 minutes. Then move the browned pork onto the wire rack/foiled baking sheet.
Pour out the extra oil and fat from the skillet and bring the temperature up to medium heat. Carefully pour the syrup mixture into the skillet and stir it around. (The mix will bubble up as it hits the hot pan.) Stir constantly to get the fond off the bottom of the skillet and reduce the glaze to 1/2 cu. which will take a few minutes.
Remove 2 tbsp. of this glaze to a small serving bowl or gravy boat from the skillet for later.
Place the roast fat side down onto the rack/foil/pan. Then brush the glaze onto the roast. Covering the pork completely.
Place the roast which is still on the rack/foil/pan onto the grill. (The pan covered with foil will collect dripping syrup and fat from flames flaring up and burning the roast and the foil will make cleaning the baked fat and sugars easier later.)
Let the roast cook for about 20 minutes and check with a meat thermometer. When the thermometer shows 130-35˚F, brush more glaze onto the roast and then continue to cook until the temperature reaches 140˚F, just a few more minutes.
Remove the roast from the grill and let it rest uncovered for 10 minutes.
While resting, stir together the 2 tbsp. of glaze, which was set aside in the gravy boat with the remaining 1/4 cu. of maple syrup and the 1 tbsp. of mustard. Stir well. Use this glaze on the plate or let the each person pour some onto their portions.
Slice the pork into 1/4" thick slices and serve.

We had the pork with couscous steamed with broccoli and a salad. Jen had a glass of Jenny's Blues Cream Ale with a few bleuberries floating in it and I had a Bourbon Oak Strong Ale with mine. The bourbon flavors worked well together and the strong ale balanced well with the molasses and maple flavors.

I just had a slice of the pork for lunch and it was great cold.

Alte Straße

2009-06-03T23:30:00.002-04:00

I've had the ingredients to brew an Altbier, Old Beer in German, since last February '08. I was going to brew it last August and one beer after another it just didn't get made. I was going to start the brew yesterday, but our dog Flannel has been seriously ill and sadly we had to put her to sleep yesterday and that was all that we both could really think about and deal with. She was 11 years and 2 months old and Jen's companion for all that time. She became a great friend to me when Jen and I began to date her three years ago. She was a great brewing companion as well. She would sit with me outside or in the cellar while I brewed, racked and bottled. Now today is brew day for the Alt and I'll find a subtitle like Unser bester alter Hund in honor of our best old pal.

Altbier is in Category 7 Amber Hybrid Beer, of the BJCP style guidelines, sub-style C Düsseldorf style.

This traditional style of beer is from Düsseldorf, quite close to the Netherlands and Belgium. "Alt" refers to the "old" style of brewing (i.e. making top-fermented ales) that was common before lager brewing became popular. Predates the isolation of bottom fermenting yeast strains, though it approximates many characteristics of lager beers. The best examples can be found in brewpubs in the Altstadt ("old town") section of Düsseldorf.

There are also two other sub-styles in category 7: A, which is Northern German Altbier (Grolsh Amber) and there's B, which is California Common Beer (like Anchor Steam beer). The beers in this category ferment like a lager without using lager yeast. They have a clean finish because they are fermented at the low end of the ale temperature range 60-65˚F, where our cellar is right now. What a coincidence. There are no well known commercial brands that are well know for Düsseldorf Alts.

The image above and on the right is the door to Uerige, one of many Alt breweries in Dusseldorf. Follwing is the recipe and results from today's brew day:

Alte Straße

(Old Street. The ß is not a B. It is a double s.)

7-C Düsseldorf Altbier

Author: Steve Espach

Date: 6/3/09

Size: 5.0 gal

Efficiency: 70.0%

Attenuation: 73.0%

Calories: 180.39 kcal per 12 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.054 (1.046 - 1.054)

|=======================#========|

Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.010 - 1.015)

|======================#=========|

Color: 15.22 (13.0 - 17.0)

|================#===============|

Alcohol: 5.17% (4.5% - 5.2%)

|=======================#========|

Bitterness: 44.5 (35.0 - 50.0)

|==================#=============|

Ingredients:

6.2 lb Rahr Standard 2-Row
0.8 lb Breiss American 2-Row
3 lb Breiss Munich Malt
0.93 lb 2-Row Caramel Malt 60L
1.8 oz Mt. Hood (5.2%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1 oz Spalt Spalter (4.2%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1 oz Spalt Spalter (4.2%) - added during boil, boiled 3.0 min
1.0 pt White Labs WLP036 Dusseldorf Alt
1.0 tsp Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) - added dry to primary fermenter

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 78 °F
Source Water: 70 °F
Elevation: 190 ft

00:16:53 Mash-In - Liquor: 3.42 gal; Strike: 130.93 °F; Target: 122.0 °F
00:46:53 Protien Rest - Rest: 30.0 min; Final: 119.0 °F
00:51:53 Infusion - Water: 2.63 gal; Temperature: 183.5 °F; Target: 144.5 °F
01:21:53 Sacchrification Rest - Rest: 30.0 min; Final: 142.5 °F
01:51:51 Decoction - Volume: 2.82 gal; Boil: 15.0 min; Target: 168.0 °F
02:21:51 Sparge - Batch Sparge: 1.7 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 5.6 gal collected, 30.0 min; Total Runoff: 5.73 gal

Notes:

Made a yeast starter from WLP036 on Saturday 05/30/09
- Boiled 1 pt. of water
- Added 1/2 light DME to boiling water
- Let boil for 10 min.
- Sanatized 1/2 gallon amber jug and airlock
- Let the wort cool to 80˚F
- Poured into jug when cooled
- Pitched 036
- Swirled for areation
- Set airlock and left in basement at 65˚F where the Alte Straße wil ferment

Pre boil S.G. was 1.046

Boil 90 min.
- @ 60 min. add 1.8 oz. Mt. Hood [bittering] hops
- @ 15 min. add 1 oz. Spalt [flavor] hops
- @ 3 min. add 1oz. Spalt [aroma] hops
- @ 0 min. flameout.
- Cooled with wort chiller

O.G. taken 1.052 at 80˚ corrected to 1.054
Pitched 1 pt. of WLP036 starter

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FYI Just south of Düsseldorf is Cologne where Kölsch is brewed, another lager like ale.

My Hop Trellis Pole is Completed

2009-05-30T22:26:00.009-04:00

Today there was no rain in the forecast and there was some sunshine and a bit warmer air, so after taking Flannel to the Vet, I got busy and completed the hop trellis. I cut, by hand with a hand saw and a square, four pieces of 1x8 cedar x5" and screwed them together forming a box with the ends opened. This is the carriage and it slides up and down the pole for harvest and spring preparation. I screwed the flanges to the sides and disassembled the carriage into halves and went over to the pole and put the two parts around the pole and screwed the halves together. Then I twisted the 18" pipes into the flanges. I attached the screw eye and tied on the rope. After threading the jute line through the tees at the top, I raised the carriage and secured the rope on the cleat and tied the ends of the jute to the 36" pipe arms.

The arms on the trellis are articulated to East/West so the hops will face South, getting the optimum sunshine.

Looking at the photo on the right, does it looks like my original design from the previous posting? Click on the link for the original design. I have a gallery of photos of the project at my Mac Gallery.

What fun this was! The neighbor's pulled into their driveway and asked, "What is that?" I told them, "It's a hop trellis." "A what?" they asked. Jen continued to explain it to them. "Oh!" they replied.

I also planted the Cascade hops in a mound next to the other 36" arm. I dug a good hole and mixed some compost in with the soil making a mound. then, with my hand made a 6" long slice in the soil, inserted the rhizome with the curve up and one end a bit higher than the other and pushed the soil over it and patted it down. since it was later in the day and soil was very moist I did not add water. I'll do that in the morning. Since the Cascade hop will not grow that much this season, I'm thinking of planting a morning glory or clematis up the other side of the Hallertau hops on the other side.

In other important hop news, two days ago in the Hallertauer and Tetnanger Regions of Southern Germany had a major hails storm which decimated the hop crop there. Read about that at Charlie Papazzian's Beer Examiner article. This is why I'm growing Hallertau. Worcester is about 42˚26' degrees N latitude and Hallertauer region is in Bavaria, which Munich is the capital is at 48˚8'N lattitude. Only 6 degrees (and a few thousand miles) of separation!

On the top of the trellis pole is a battery operated light which is solar charger. It has two LEDs and isn't too bright. This fixture is designed for use on the the top of a post on the corner of a deck or a newel post. It has a copper looking plastic top which matches the copper paint job on the pipe arms. The color and the look add a bit of grace and finish to the project. In the photo right, the LEDs aren't that bright because of the flash. We had a nice quarter moon to the West.

My worries at this point are whether or not the jute twine will last in the weather and against the edge of the pipe tee or whether the shorter screws in the carriage will hold the 18 pipe arms over the season.

Grow hops grow!

Clocktoberfest

2009-05-22T19:00:00.001-04:00

As I write on a hotter than normal 83˚ day in late May, I'm sipping on a Péache Saison Ètè from last August. Ah Refreshing. It's a strong and tasty beer even cold. Today I write about the Clocktoberfest. I call it that because I'm two months late now. It should have been brewed in March with a lager yeast (see earlier posting), but now that it's too warm, I'll use a Düsseldorf Ale WLP036 yeast, which is perfect for the current cellar temperature of 62-68˚F. I've gone through several names for this beer and I've decided on "Clocktoberfest" because of its tardiness. This beer's catch phrase will be...

Cerevisi et tempus neminem manet
Beer and time waits for no one.

I'm no student of Latin, but this seems like a proper phrase. No? I was a bit disappointed in the low starting gravity of the beer, but that will not deter me. I'm not too upset about the lower final gravity and the lower abv – It makes the beer easier to drink.

The Beer has begun to ferment in the basement. Below is a short video recorded from my infrared wireless camera in the basement. With this camera, I can see what's going on in the basement even at night. I had purchased the cameras for use at work on stage, but since there isn't a lot of that right now, I can put the cameras to work for me in other ways.

Wasn't that thrilling to watch!

Clocktoberfest

3-B Oktoberfest/Märzen

Author: Steve Espach

Date: 5/21/09

Size: 5.25 gal
Efficiency: 42.19%
Attenuation: 73.6%
Calories: 139.47 kcal per 12 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.042 (1.050 - 1.056)
|#===============================|

Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.012 - 1.016)
|====#===========================|

Color: 11.25 (7.00 - 14.00)
|=================#==============|

Alcohol: 4.04% (4.80% - 5.70%)
|#===============================|

Bitterness: 26.9 (20.00 - 28.00)
|=====================#==========|

Ingredients:

6.0 lb German Vienna
1.0 lb Munich Malt
0.25 lb Belgian Cara-Pils
3.3 lb Bierkeller Amber LME
0.8 oz Perle (7.1%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1 oz Hallertau (3.9%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 Tbsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1 ea White Labs WLP036 Dusseldorf Alt

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 85.0 °F

Source Water: 74.6 °F

Elevation: 190 ft

00:15:58 Mash-In - Liquor: 2.72 gal; Strike: 171.88 °F; Target: 158 °F
01:45:58 Sac Rest - Rest: 90.0 min; Final: 150.3 °F
01:48:58 Mash-Out Infusion - Water: 1.81 gal; Temperature: 204.1 °F; Target: 170 °F
02:03:58 Mash-Out Rest - Rest: 15.0 min; Final: 163.3 °F
02:03:58 No Sparge - Untitled Sparge: 0.02 gal sparge @ 170.0 °F, 0 min; Total Runoff: 3.59 gal

Notes:

Wort came out Way low on the Original Gravity
Who cares. It'll just be lighter than Oktoberfest.
See If I brewed when I should have nothing would've gone wrong. Oh well.

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My Hop Trellis Pole Plans

2009-05-16T20:00:00.000-04:00

I have got to get the hop trellis ready. One shoot of the Hallertau hops is about 18" long and it's got to have somewhere to go and grow. There is another Hallertau shoot coming up and I want to get a Cascade rhizome in the ground real soon.

My trellis plan is to the right. Click on the image for a larger look at. It's a variation on Andy Spark's genius trellis system which I saw on Basic Brewing TV episode from March 31, 2008 (streaming episode) with James Spencer.

The pole is the main structure and is a 4x4x16' treated southern yellow pine timber set into a 3-4' deep hole and back filled. I'll build a four sided box from 1x6 cedar, which will be slightly larger than the dimensions of the post. This is the carriage. Protruding from each side of the carriage are two 18" galvanized pipes each connected to the carriage by a flange. The other end of the pipe has a tee on it which acts as a loop for the twine. The carriage will slide up and down the pole controlled by a purchase rope for ease of harvesting and restringing in early May. At the bottom of the pole are two opposing 36" galvanized pipes, both attached by a flange on one end and an end cap on the other. They are in line with the 18" pipes on the carriage.

Andy's trellis design requires two people to manage it: one lifts the pole from its socket, while another sets a pivot dowel, then both lower the pole by hand to its side onto a saw horse to do the harvesting and stringing. My trellis allows a one person operation. One problem I might incur is that the carriage may bind on the post with any torquing from uneven weight of hops on the pipes.

In the spring, with the carriage down, I'll screw in the pipes on both carriage and pole, tie the jute twine to each of the the lower pipes near the flange (or wherever the hop bine comes up) and pass the other end of the twine through the tee on the ends of the pipe on the carriage. At that point I'll raise the carriage by the purchase rope to the top of the pole and wrap the rope to spring cleat to keep the carriage at the top of the pole. Then I will tie the loose end of jute twine to the ends of the bottom pipes. Keeping some tension, but not too much. When the bine will reach the bottom pipes, I can guide the bine to the twine and the bine will begin to grow up the twine in a clockwise direction.

After the pole is up and rigged, I can plant the other rhizome and do some composting and mulching. Get about a gallon of water dripping onto the rhisomes for good growth in the morning and late afternoon.

In September one of the two hop varieties may be ready earlier than the other to harvest. Using this pole system, I can lower the carrage and cut off the twine with the bine that's ready to harvest and then raise the carrage to the top agian and let the others mature on the (vine) bine until i'ts ready to harvest. I could also add another string up, through and down again if there are enough shoots coming up.

I want to cap off the pole as Andy did with a solar light fixture. His wife thought that it was necessary for the FAA to warn planes, but since the pole is 16' and several feet are in the ground, I don't think any planes are in danger. I think it will look good during the evening lit up. Knowing solar fixtures, they will probably dim later at night. The neighbors will think there is a UFO in the next yard! I will also paint the pipes a copper or antique bronze color. Both purely for aesthetic reasons.

Jenny's Blues and Craft Beer Week

2009-05-07T14:58:00.009-04:00

Jenny's Blues Cream Ale started active fermentation in the cellar on Wednesday about twenty-four hours after pitching the yeast On Tuesday afternoon. There was a steady carbon dioxide exhaust at about one bubble per second until Friday night when the activity slowed way down. I then racked the beer to a secondary carboy on Tuesday. The Golden Naked Oats taste great and provides a nice mouth feel to the cream ale. Nice, light and smoooooth. A Beautiful straw color. To clear the beer a bit more I dissolved 1/2 tsp. of gelatin into 1/2 cu. of warm water and pitched that into the secondary. Followed by 1 fl. oz. of blueberry syrup. Another +/- 1 fl. oz. or so will go into the batch for kegging.

I also may begin the Oktoberfest on Tuesday. Even though it's brewed in May, may I call it Oktoberfest? Usually it's brewed in March and six months later (September) it's served for Oktoberfest. Beer brewed in October and served in March is know as Märzen. If it's brewed in May, it could be called Mocktoberfest or Dezemberfest. I plan on using a Dusseldorf Ale WLP 036 yeast since it's too warm now to brew a lager using Oktoberfest Lager WLP 820 yeast without an additional brewing fridge. If you want ot donate a chest freezer or apartment sized fridge, Let me know.
This week, May 11-17th, is Craft Beer Week. Craft brewers are celebrating those brewers who produce less than 2 million barrels a year.

The mission of American Craft Beer Week is to encourage beer lovers everywhere to celebrate the accomplishments of America's small and independent craft brewers. The theme of this year's celebration is "Declare Your Beer Independence."

Download and read the PDF file (3.0 MB file) Declaration of Beer Independance. The inaugural American Craft Beer Week was recognized by the U.S. Congress with House Resolution 753 in 2006.

Watch the jocular video below from the Colbert Report on Comedy Central

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